For Team USA’s Harrison, it’s her second consecutive Olympic gold medal.
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However, the most significant moment of the night came when Simone Manuel won Olympics gold in the women’s 100-meter freestyle, making history as the first black woman to take home a gold medal in an individual swimming event.
Aug 12, 2016- American Simone Manuel and Canada’s Penny Oleksiak claimed joint gold in a remarkable finish to the women’s 100m freestyle final at the 2016 Olympics.
Her win felt drama-free or boring only if you don’t like to watch a virtuoso performer stretching ideas of what’s possible, or see a great creation story come to fruition.
Manuel commented on police brutality, calling her win significant given the political climate in the US, where it is every other day that the public hears about police killing civilians.”It means a lot, especially with what is going on in the world today, some of the issues of police brutality”, Manuel told reporters, according to USA Today.
RIO DE JANEIRO As an African-American swimmer, Simone Manuel has carried a weight on her shoulders every time she steps onto the starting blocks.
She’s got one event left: the 50 meter freestyle which begins Friday.
It was also a milestone night for Simone Manuel. It was also his 13 gold medal in an individual event, setting a new Olympic record.
“As soon as I woke up yesterday I walked into Ali’s room and I said, ‘I have a really good feeling about today, ‘ and she said, ‘me, too, ‘” Biles said in an exclusive interview on TODAY, the morning after earning an Olympic gold medal in the individual all-around competition.
Congratulations are in order: To Fiji, who just won its first-ever Olympic medal, a gold, in rugby.
Simone’s other team members, 2012 Olympic all-around gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas, 2015 uneven bars world champion Madison Kocian, and 16-year-old gymnastics star Laurie Hernandez, did exceedingly well, helping United States of America capture the women’s team all-around gold medal.
For Manuel, the victory could not have been sweeter.
“I will just remember all the memories I made”. I never thought I’d win a gold. “My goal was just to get more experience, swim as fast as I can”, she said.
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Douglas said her teammates “did an unbelievable job”. “I do hope that kind of goes away”.
