Simone Manuel spoke out about the United States’ police brutality problem after claiming a historic gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle at the Rio Olympics on Thursday night.
Simone became the first African-American female swimmer to take gold in an individual event.
Her time of 52:70 ties her with 16-year-old Canadian Penny Oleksiak and the two now share an Olympic record and both received a gold medal.
Simone said that her victory was extra special in the context of ongoing race issues in the U.S.
via USA Today:
“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.”
Australia’s Cate Campbell was a strong favorite going into the race, but Manuel remained calm as her rival faded. Manuel finished in blistering fashion.
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.
For Manuel, the victory could not have been sweeter. In the lead-up to the event she forced herself to briefly distance herself from the significance of being a rare black swimmer representing the U.S, in order to focus on chasing victory.
“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.’
Congrats Simone!
Comments are closed.