Simone Manuel made history at the Olympic games currently going on in Rio, last thursday night. Her Olympic record in the 100m free made her the first Black woman to win individual swimming gold. The Stanford University student broke down in tears when she discovered she had won. She clocked in at 52.70 seconds to win gold and set a new Olympic record.
According to The Guardian, Manuel said; “The gold medal wasn’t just for me. It was for people that came before me and inspired me to stay in the sport. For people who believe that they can’t do it. I hope I’m an inspiration to others to get out there and try swimming. You might be pretty good at it.”
She also said she was aware of what her victory meant in the current political climate in the US. “It means a lot, especially with what is going on in the world today, some of the issues of police brutality. This win hopefully brings hope and change to some of the issues that are going on. My color just comes with the territory.”
The 20 year old, who said she had not expected to win gold, tied for first place with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak, who only turned 16 in June.
Oleksiak, who also claimed silver in the 200m butterfly and two bronzes in the freestyle relays, became the first competitor born after 1 January, 2000 to claim an Olympic gold medal in an individual event. She also won Canada’s first gold of the #RioOlympics2016
“This is amazing, to tie for a gold. I never thought I’d win a gold. It means so much. She (Manuel) deserves it as much as me,” Oleksiak said.
Congratulations to them both 🙂
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