“I would like there to be a day where there are more of us and it’s not ‘Simone, the black swimmer, ‘” she said. “I love it, I have fun, and just representing my country is the greatest honor I could ever have”, she said Monday on TODAY.
Advertisement
The tweet has since been deleted, and the story, which is here, includes an editor’s note: “The original headline on this story was insensitive and has been updated to acknowledge the historic gold medal wins by both Simone Manuel and Michael Phelps”. “I know made the Olympic team, I always said, I’m proud to be the first, but I definitely don’t want to be the last”.
At the time, Ervin was the first person of African-American heritage to win a gold medal. She swam a 53.32 in her qualifying heat and 53.11 in the semifinals.
“I ain’t gettin’ in no water”, my grandmother used to say with a dismissive wave while I begged her to sit on the steps in the shallow end of my suburb’s public pool while I splashed around.
“I went in there and swam as fast as I could”.
It was the second time the women’s 100m freestyle had ended in such a fashion – the 1984 Los Angeles Games saw a tie between Americans Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer in 55.92 sec.
It also inspired countless others who said the moment provided motivation for their children, including one enthusiastic young swimmer whose mother captured her declaring, “I got next!” in a photo she posted to Twitter. “She has the opportunity to inspire a generation of young children from a very diverse background who have traditionally not engaged in aquatic sports”.
And again, after winning the silver in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay earlier this week alongside Katie Ledecky, Dana Vollmer and Abbey Weitzeil: “All Glory to God!” During her emotional post-race interview, NBC’s Michelle Tafoya asked Manuel about her accomplishment. “Everyone had to watch the result many times before we understood what happened. the biggest surprise so far in this competition”, the Swede said. While her brothers eventually switched their focus to basketball, she kept swimming, eventually growing more serious about the sport as she reached high school.
Phelps took the lead in the third leg, the butterfly, before Nathan Adrian brought it home as the United States won ahead of Britain and Australia.
Advertisement
The fact that Manuel hails from the Houston area makes her victory even more significant. Gatlin was asked about comments made by swimmer Lilly King, who said athletes who had previously been banned for doping should not be in the Olympics, including Gatlin and his USA sprint teammate Tyson Gay. The look on her face was priceless as she realized she had set a new Olympic record with a final finishing time of 52.71 seconds.
