US Olympic Swimming Star Simone Samuel Slams Police Brutality

“But at the same time I would like there to be a day where there are more of us and it’s not Simone “the black swimmer”, she said.

They have been making history – and here’s how. After preparation that took a lifetime, Manuel thus became a role model in less than a minute. He cited numbers that “68.9 percent of African American children had ‘low or no swim ability, ‘” according to USA Swimming, and were 5 1/2 times more likely to drown that white children.

So, there is understandably a lot of attention paid to African American swimmers in the spotlight, and it’s something that the 20-year-old Manuel, who is competing in her first Olympics, has had to deal with throughout her career. Recently LeBron shouted out a couple of American Olympians on Instagram.

Simone played on both 2013 World Championship Team and 2013 Duel in the Pool team that won against the European All Stars.

The journalist and Ferlito both laughed over the racist remark. “She didn’t have to say much after that, because her staying up said enough in itself”.

“I found it very insulting”. I hope that I’m an inspiration to others to get out there and try swimming.

Under the Olympics’ scoring rules, when two athletes tie, they each get a medal – meaning that while this race has two gold medalists, no one gets a silver.

Indeed, for many people of color, the Olympics are an opportunity to show they’re the best America has to offer while recognizing racial injustice. “It’s like everything that has led me up to this moment has paid off, and it’s all been worth it”.

“This medal is not just for me”, Manuel is quoted as saying in the story. “I always had an issue with not seeing “people that looked like me” in the sport”.

Both Biles and Manuel are fantastic athletes, but they also happen to be awesome black women.

USA Gymnastics and USA Swimming have made some efforts to study and increase diversity.

Among the survey comments from USA Gymnastics professional members, a respondent wrote, “In good conscience, I can not fill out such a form”. She had, though, arrived with a sense of what her participation meant.

And at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, that is quickly becoming a prominent narrative for Team USA.

Biles said earlier in the event that Manuel was “an awesome person”, and it appears to be a friendship to last.

They’re young women who are unapologetic about their talent and are equally inspiring.

It’d be really nice if, rather than needing to apologize, backpedal, or provide too-little-too late responses, mainstream media outlets learned to get these things right in the first place. Join the list of first! In Beijing in 2008, he became the second African-American swimmer to win gold.

Speaking with reporters, Manuel shared the burden that came with representing the African-American community.

The Texan beat her US teammate Aly Raisman, and Aliya Mustafina from Russian Federation to take the gold.

The other Simone, Simone Manuel, wasn’t even on anyone’s radar in the 100 free final. She and her teammates won the gold in the Women’s Team All-Around competition.