Coming off a blowup 2016 that saw her win a massive upset Olympic gold medal in the 100 free, Simone Manuel is the subject of a new USA Swimming video in which she gets to tell the story of her swimming career, with some help from her younger USA Swimming teammates.
You can watch the video above, courtesy of USA Swimming on YouTube. Manuel talks about how she got started in the sport as an array of age groupers rattle off some of the biggest highlights of her career.
In Rio, Manuel became the first black woman of any nationality to win Olympic swimming gold. She tied for the win in the 100 free with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak, upsetting world record-holder Cate Campbell of Australia. Manuel talks about her role as a role model for young African American swimmers and pays tribute to some of her predecessors in that role.
Manuel is now back at Stanford University, competing for the Cardinal after taking a redshirt Olympic year last season. Manuel is part of one of the most talented groups in the NCAA, currently among the favorites to win the NCAA title in just a few months.
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Definitely a big fan of this young beautitul, smart and so talented swimmer. Her win in Rio was so unexpected for me. A great moment.
I just hope that it will be possible to read an article or to watch a TV report about Simone Manuel in the future without the mention that she’s a black swimmer. I understand the historic moment in Rio and the huge role model she can be for little black girls who never swim and don’t believe it’s possible to win an olympic gold. But she’s American first. She’s an amazing swimmer and according to what I see from her, it seems she’s a great person too. She’s a role model for all girls… Read more »
Completely agree with you. It is long due to start talking about Simone Manuel as a swimmer and to review actually what has happened in Rio and what can be expected from Simone in the future. She was under 53.5 once in 2014 and then consistently swam at 53 high. So consistently that not much was expected from her in Olympic Year and Weitzeil was an American hope in sprint. Her OT races in Omaha where she was supposed to be at least partially tapered because of the toughness of completion were in line with these expectations (53.64, 53.52). And then surprising but firm drop at individual races in Rio (53.32, 53.11, 52.70)
If she was that strong mentally… Read more »