Simone Manuel Makes History in the Pool

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Simone Manuel Makes History in the Pool

Simone Manuel Makes History in the Pool:RIO DE JANEIRO — Katie Ledecky’s roommate at the Olympics is setting records now, too.

Simone Manuel, who is sharing a room with Ledecky in the athletes’ village here, became the first African-American woman to win an individual event in Olympic swimming on Thursday night. She and Penny Oleksiak of Canada tied for the fastest time, an Olympic record in the women’s 100-meter freestyle: 52.70 seconds.

“I definitely think it raises some awareness and will get them inspired,” Manuel, 20, said about the significance of her accomplishment. “I mean, 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.”

Manuel and Oleksiak shaved 0.01 seconds off the Olympic standard of 52.71, set earlier in the Rio Games meet by Australia’s Cate Campbell. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom won the bronze in 52.99.

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 female 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.

Both Manuel and Oleksiak had to come from behind to take the victory on Thursday night. Manuel was third at the halfway mark, while Oleksiak was seventh at the turn.
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At the finish, Manuel looked at the scoreboard and seemed surprised and thrilled, covering her mouth with her hand.

“I was pretty shocked,” said Manuel, who is from Sugar Land, Tex., and attends Stanford. “My goal coming in was to get on the medal stand after seeing how I swam in prelims and semifinals. But getting a gold medal in my first Olympics, I still can’t describe it but I’m really excited about it.”

Simone Biles’s Coronation is Complete

In case anybody had doubts, Simone Biles made it official: she’s the best gymnast in the world. The American dominated the women’s all-around competition on her way to a gold medal Thursday. In doing so, she joined Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin and Gabby Douglas as American all-around winners. Aly Raisman (U.S.) won the silver, and Aliya Mustafina (Russia) won bronze

Phelps Wins a Record 13th Individual Gold

Michael Phelps won the 200 individual medley easily, beating not only teammate Ryan Lochte, but an ancient Greek.

Leonidas of Rhodes won 12 individual events over four Olympics. At 36, five years older than Phelps, he won his last three golds in 152 B.C, in races of about 200 and 400 meters and in a shield-carrying race. It wasn’t easy, but Phelps surpassed Leonidas, winning his 13th individual gold (and 22nd gold overall and 26th medal). With the victory, Phelps also joined the track and field Olympians Al Oerter and Carl Lewis as the only Americans to win an individual event four times.

Phelps was timed in 1 minute 54.66. He won by over a bodylength, and the time was his second-best ever behind a 1:54.23 from Beijing. He held up four fingers afterward to indicate his four consecutive victories in the event. Japan’s Kosuke Hagino took the silver. Lochte finished fifth.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/sports/olympics/rio-schedule-medals-biles-phelps-lochte.html?_r=0

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