“This medal is not just for me, it’s for the African-Americans who have come before me and been an inspiration”, Manuel said after the race.
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Manuel, though, shared it with all young African-American girls. The latter medal clinched the United States’ 1,000th Summer Olympics gold medal. “I have such a great support system and I wouldn’t be there without them”, she said. “I haven’t really gotten a chance to take everything in, but that’s OK because I want to do well in the rest of my events this week”. Cate’s sister Bronte had a personal best that made her the third-fastest in the event’s history.
It wasn’t long ago that a University of Georgia student became the first African American woman to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim.
Manuel herself was surprised when she posted a 52.70 in the final. A gold-silver finish not just for Australia, but for the Campbell family of Brisbane, seemed plausible. None had ever before won an individual Olympic medal in swimming. Since her historic victory, black mothers have taken to Twitter to show how their young daughters are inspired by Simone’s story. A photo circulated of Phelps with a bong, followed by a string of broken relationships.
A few months later it all unraveled with the DUI.
That set up the USA swimmers to reach the milestone.
The transformation began in the fall of 2014 at a treatment center near Phoenix.
But that can’t be what happened, unless “Michael Phelps” was just a heinous misspelling of “Historic Win”, since his name had no business in the headline in the first place. He joined his long-time coach at Arizona State, where Bowman runs the Sun Devils program. “The rehab is what opened him up”. The 12-time Olympic medalist said Thursday that Phelps got a gift when South African rival Chad le Clos taunted him at the pool earlier this week.
“Afterwards, of course, when we reflect on it, and we look back at it, and we realize how significant it was for America as well as for minorities, it meant that much more for a different reason”, Simone’s mother said.
“Simone Biles and me are practically the same person”, Manuel said. Bronte trailed her by a quarter of a second.
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Cal sprinters Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin advanced to the final of the 50 freestyle with blistering semifinal performances. The Americans haven’t been beaten since 2006, winning every world championships and Olympic title since then.
