Simone Manuel leaned her head into her hands and cried when she recognized her historic achievement. “I’m the first Simone Biles”.
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It came just hours after Biles had dominated the competition in the women’s all-around event and entered the conversation of whether she is the greatest gymnast of all time.
The 19-year-old was peerless as she crushed her rivals with a powerful display of acrobatics and tumbling in the Rio Olympic Arena. Tears rolled down each of Manuel’s cheeks as she sang along.
“Coming into the race I tried to take weight of the black community off my shoulders”, she told ABC.
But with all this success people are continuously comparing Biles to some of her male Olympian counterparts, and it’s because of this that she left us with a quick reminder after her golden win in the women’s all around finals earlier this week.
Following Simone Biles’ floor routine on Thursdsay, the camera flashed to Biles’ teammates, who were on their feet cheering her on to victory.
The significance was not lost on many viewers, some of whom recalled racist Segregation-era policies that kept black Americans out of swimming pools. In 1955, Dandridge became the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award in the lead actress category.
While Douglas hasn’t yet spoken out about her seemingly salty stare down during last night’s event, this isn’t the first controversy she’s faced – and it may not be the last.
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The media has not had the best track record this week when reporting on athletes who are LGBT, women, or people of color. The Chicago Tribune celebrated Corey Cogdell’s bronze medal in trap ahooting win with a headline reading “Corey Cogdell, Wife of Bears Lineman Mitch Unrein, Wins Bronze in Rio”.
