Another Black girl has made headlines as she beats all her competitors and wins gold for America at this year’s Olympics dubbed Rio 2016. Manuel, 20, became the first black female swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal, while Oleksiak, 16, won Canada’s first gold of the Games.
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She grabbed hold of it Friday night, etching her name into the record books.
“It’s really special that I could do it with the relay is unbelievable, just sharing it with three other women is icing on top of the cake”, said Manuel.
“I want to be an inspiration, but I would like there to be a day when it is not ‘Simone the black swimmer, ‘” she said.
“We like to reward them for doing good skills with trampoline time”.
Manuel cried during the medal presentation.
It was the same response she had given to making the U.S. Olympic swimming team in July, tweeting, “All glory to God!” It’s something I carry with me.
“I’m glad I can be an inspiration to others, but I haven’t really thought about how much life has changed yet”, Manuel said.
Despite the momentary shade thrown by NBC, Manuel herself remained incredibly positive and gave an incisive and genuine post-race interview where she brought up the current state of USA politics and police brutality and voiced that she hopes her swimming success can shed a light in a tense time.
Although Phelps’ feats are truly astonishing and there are many reasons to admire him, he’s been winning since the 2004 Olympics. Hers as the first individual swimming gold medal won by a black woman. Aimee Boorman has been her coach since she was seven years old.
The competition ended with the floor routine, her signature event, in which she executed her signature move (a double layout with a half-twist and a blind landing), now officially known as “the Biles”.
She was only seventh at the turn but powered back on the final 50 metres with a frenzied, head-down final 15 metres to the wall.
Other contenders: Japan, the 2012 silver medalist, and Australia, which took bronze at the last games.
American basketball champion LeBron James posted an Instagram photo, congratulating the Simones.
Meyer first met Ledecky and her family a few years ago at a conference.
Indeed her medal has broken racial boundaries.
Jazz Carlin of Britain won the silver medal, almost 12 seconds behind Ledecky.
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Manual said, though, she does not want to just be known as the “black swimmer” and hopes more African-Americans will follow in her footsteps.
