He finished fifth in his semifinal heat but a fast swim in the second semi bumped the Kenora, Ont., native to 12th. They couldn’t have arrived at this spot without it.
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Simone Manuel’s 100-meter freestyle victory at the Rio Olympics made history twice.
At the time, Ervin was the first person of African-American heritage to win a gold medal.
Lochte, whose mother hails from Cuba, won a gold medal in the men’s 4x200m swimming relay.
The medal record for a Canadian Olympian, all-time, is six medals shared by both Cindy Klassen and Clara Hughes, who each won six medals over the course of their careers. Only Cindy Klassen has ever won five medals for Canada at a single Olympics, but Oleksiak is not done. After preparation that took a lifetime, Manuel thus became a role model in less than a minute.
“It challenges me academically and athletically, and socially I get to be around such different people, though we also have something in common by being here”, Manuel told USA Swimming about attending Stanford.
And finally, when she took the podium to receive her gold medal, she had composed herself and was standing proudly. It’s for all the people after me who believe they can’t do it and I just want to be an inspiration to others that you can do it. “You might be pretty good at it”.
Manuel is especially grateful for her teammate Neal.
Manuel’s victory in the 100m freestyle isn’t important just because she’s black.
She tied Canada’s Penny Oleksiak in a terrific photo finish. Not only an incredible personal achievement, she surely had to be aware at some point of what this meant for all American women of color.
The 20-year-old from Sugar Land, Texas, had just become the first African American woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming.
“Thankfully, it began a connection in which I would get to watch her transform into the powerhouse she is today”, McClendon said.
“Coming into the race I tried to take weight of the black community off my shoulders”, Manuel said. “But I do hope that it kind of goes away. And that’s not true”.
But there hasn’t been much talk about another group of people, a group she mentioned immediately after winning the 100m freestyle.
Here’s her gold-winning final lap.
Manuel’s parents put her in swimming lessons at age 4 so she’d learn how to be safe in water, she said this year. But Cate Campbell was there, as expected, in first, a blistering 24.77 seconds. In 2010, she experienced a turning point, being chosen for USA Swimming’s diversity select camp, where she met other talented minorities. Both swimmers seemed uncertain, talking it over as the announcer introduced “The gold medalists and Olympic champions”.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom (52.99) ended up in 3rd place in this rat race that was decided in the final meters. “. I think that was the biggest surprise so far of this competition”. “I saw it in her eyes after the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2012”.
Teammate Lia Neal alerted Manuel that LeBron James tweeted that she was “inspiring” and Serena Williams called her “so wonderful”. He isn’t asked the kind of broad societal questions she faces. “This win hopefully brings hope and change to some of the issues that are going on”. It’s not just about her skin color.
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In an interview with Swim Swam after the race, Manuel said that she’s “not an emotional person”. When she was 18 months old and her mother’s back was briefly turned, she scurried into the bathtub fully clothed to play with her brother.
