Manuel won gold – sharing first place with Penny Oleksiak of Canada – in the women’s 100-meter freestyle at the Olympic Aquatics Center on Thursday night, to become the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic title.
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From the looks of this video that Layla’s mom posted on Twitter on Friday morning, she’s well on her way to greatness.
I am so proud of @simone_manuel First African American female to get a GOLD medal. “It’s for a whole bunch of people that came before me and have been an inspiration to me”.
At the same time, Manuel knows that by winning Olympic gold in a sport that still has few people of color, especially in the United States, she carries what she described as “the weight of the black community”.
“I opened the door to the room, and she got up and gave me a hug and said, ‘I wasn’t going to fall asleep until I gave you a hug, ‘ and that really meant a lot to me”, said Manuel, who gave the US a gold medal in the event for the first time since 1984. It’s something I carry with me. “Just being a black woman myself and to see just someone like me, like the color, is just so wonderful and for her to get an Olympic record is better still”.
“I’m the kind of person that tries to stay the same”, she said. Now, he’s the oldest swimmer of any nationality to win an individual gold medal. “This medal is for the people who come behind me and get into the sport and hopefully find love and drive to get to this point”.
We went from not being allowed in public swimming pools to winning Olympic gold medals.
Maggie Steffens (@maggiesteffens), senior, captain of US women’s water polo: “Yes yes yes!”
And that’s why Manuel’s win is so important; not just historically, but symbolically as well.
After the race, an emotional Manuel greeted Stanford teammate Lia Neal.
Ledecky was just 15 at the Summer Games four years ago, making her the youngest member of Team USA at the time.
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The Mercury News of San Jose, California, apologized Friday for an insensitive headline about USA swimmer Simone Manuel.
