Simone Manuel managed to rewrite history, break a world record, and bring a little magic to the Olympics all in less than a minute at the 2016 Olympics.
Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual event in Olympic swimming. She and Penny Oleksiak of Canada tied for the fastest time, an Olympic record in the women’s 100-meter freestyle: 52.70 seconds.
Manuel, originally from Sugar Land, Texas, swam at her local club, First Colony Swim Team early on when she realized this was something she was good at. Manuel is the youngest of three and began swimming at age 5 by watching her two older brothers. She joined the First Colony Swim Team at age 11, where she swam under head coach Alison Beebe throughout her early career.
At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, Manuel placed 20th in the 50-meter freestyle (25.63) 17th in 100-meter freestyle. But her next trip to the Olympics it was a totally different story.
When Manuel looked up after touching the wall, she saw red lit dots on her block that indicated she had at least finished among the podium places and admitted she was “super surprised” when she turned around and saw the “1” next to her name on the scoreboard.
Manuel said that her victory was extra special in the context of ongoing race issues in the U.S.
“It is something I’ve definitely struggled with a lot,” Manuel said. “Coming into the race I tried to take weight of the black community off my shoulders. It’s something I carry with me. I want to be an inspiration, but I would like there to be a day when it is not ‘Simone the black swimmer.’
The last time an American won gold in the event was 1984, when Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer also tied and shared the gold medal with a time of 55.92 seconds.
Several black swimmers have won Olympic medals for the United States. The first woman of African-American descent…
…to make an American Olympic team was Maritza Correia, a member of the 400-meter freestyle relay team that won silver at the 2004 Athens Games.
Lia Neal, a Brooklyn native, won a bronze in a relay at the 2012 London Games and a silver in a relay here at the Rio Games.
Anthony Ervin and Cullen Jones, who are black, have won Olympic gold medals.
“It means a lot, especially with what is going on in the world today, some of the issues of police brutality,” Manuel said. “This win hopefully brings hope and change to some of the issues that are going on. My color just comes with the territory.”
For more on the history of African Americans in the Olympics, click here.
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