Simone Manuel Thesis

Simone Manuel Many people doubted her ability, they knew she was talented, but not enough to win the gold. She said that she never imagined that she could make it to the olympics. To her surprise, and everyone else's, she did win the gold. Even though it was her first olympics, she did very well. My paper is also about how she struggled with who she is. Simone Manuel is an olympic gold medalist swimmer in the 100 yard freestyle. She lives in Sugar Land Texas. She has two brothers, Chris and Ryan, who, helped her to become competitive and where a huge influence on her. She is twenty years old, and attends Stanford University. When she was a freshman, she broke the American NCAA Records in the 100-yard freestyle. Simone Manuel was the first African American women to win an individual event in swimming, but even with this knowledge, she still gave it her all. She also set an Olympic record, along …show more content…
Simone Manuel talked to reporters saying “I definitely think it raises some awareness and will get them inspired. 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.” She also struggled with pressure from the family, because they all are serious athletes. She also told the reporters that being black, she struggled with pressure. “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.’ ” She thought about quitting swimming, because of her race, but she didn't because her brothers convinced her, and told her to use that as her reason to stay, to change other people's