Dumbest headline ever. Are you saying that only whites or Asians won every other medal in Olympics history?
Waiting for Drumpfâs âsarcasticâ comment on this fine young lady.
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To win a swimming gold you have to find your way into a pool as a six years old. Most black children donât have that opportunity. This medal is about upward mobility and opportunity as much as her obvious talent and hard work.
Read it again: first to win swim gold
The headline doesnât tell the entire tale as Simone Manuel is the first black woman EVER to earn a medal in an Olympics womenâs individual swimming event. IOW, black Olympics swimmers have earned medals as part of a relay. Manuel is not only the first black woman to win Olympic gold as an individual swimmer, but the first to win an Olympic medal period.
What a great moment for her and the sport. When she was younger I officiated some of her swim meets, and she stood out as a swimmer with real potential.
As a black woman who was on swim team, who has been asked so many fucking times in her life if she knows how to swim, this gives me so much joy. So very, very, very much joy. Go Simone!
Her reaction was the best, she had no idea that she won, let alone set a record, and the moment when she realized it was priceless.
They just left out individual gold.
Hey letâs face it, blacks are genetically better at land sports than whites, but that makes them worse swimming. Nothing good or bad about that in the grand scheme of things, just an observation that could probably easily be proved statistically. As inter-racial folks become more numerous this will probably go away or maybe I should say fade, ha ha.
As a mechanical engineer Iâm thinking it has something to do with muscle strength vs density, i.e. blacks have muscle thatâs stronger but heavier. On land that gives them an advantage, but in the water they donât float as well so thatâs a disadvantage.
To push this a little further Iâd say breeding slaves like animals to do physical labor may have had something if not everything to do with this.
This is a wonderfully big deal. So great. Congrats Simone Manuel!
For a short history of the effort to keep Blacks in the US out of public pools due to segregation, and its impact on people of color from learning how to swim, an article at Vox tries to address this. It is something important to consider as to why her win is a win for all of us, and why this is has been a long time coming.
âAt the time, Ervin was the first person of African-American heritage to win a gold medal.â
Beth, you may want to check your Olympic history on that. Does the name âJesse Owensâ ring any bells? Tommie Smith? Carl Lewis? I could go on. Câmon, editors, help her out here. The addition of âin swimmingâ might help. ETA: Yes, I know Iâm being nit-picky.
@dickweed I doubt there is a significant difference in density between fast- and slow-twitch muscles. These kids arenât engaged in floating contests, where your hypothesized difference might matter.
My apologies for overreacting to the headline
Good GodâŚreally??
I have heard some variance on that âgenetically betterâ bullshit for every sport that eventually ends up with dominant Black superstars anywayâŚTennisâŚGolfâŚHockey.
And the genetic breeding as animals nonsense is also why Black can never been successful Doctors, or Lawyers or great Writers.
Take a look at Lily Kingâs physique. Her thighs are huge and tremendously muscularâŚfar bigger than Simone Manuelâs. So I think its safe to scratch that muscle strength vs density crap off as well, and while you at itâŚtake notice of the skin pigment of Lily King vs. Simone Manuel. YeahâŚthe extremely pale white girl is the one with the thigh muscles that could bend steel.
EDIT: There are some physical characteristics that do favor certain swimmerâŚWider shoulders, narrow hips, longer arm reach, larger hands and feet. All things Michael Phelps possesses. But mostly its years and years of determination and training. But I am unaware of any demographic that has been"bred" to have these physical attributes.
I would disagree with your conclusion, at least in the sense that it hasnât been tested. In my 10 years around swimming it was clear it was a middle class and up sport, and I saw lots of examples of mediocre athletes doing well through persistence and coaching. I often wondered what a truly exceptional athlete could do with that support. To generalize, the exceptional white athletes werenât swimming, and black athletes werenât swimming in significant numbers regardless of talent. Iâm speaking of youth and junior swimming where Olympians are groomedâŚobviously it takes exceptional athleticism and training to get to Rio.
CONGRATS ! Ms Manuel.
"Black girls are truly magic.
And Simone Manuel, a black American swimmer, just shattered all stereotypes and made a definitive mark in history.
Manuel became the first African-American female swimmer to take home the Olympic gold in an individual event when she finished the 100-meter freestyle at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics Thursday night, with a time of 52.70. That tied her with Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak, and with that time, a new Olympic record was set for both competitors, as well as a gold medal won for both.
Manuel was keenly aware of the importance of her historic win, using her time and her platform to speak on the ongoing racial issues the United States grapples with."
incorrect. first female swimmer of african descent to win an individual medal in swimming was enith brigitha, swimming for the netherlands, winning two bronze medals.
Several firsts, including winning the gold, which is the best one.
Good for her, good for team America and good for the good feelings that competitive sports brings.
Personally, I was the first kid to run around the block naked with a paper bag over my head as my record holding event so the significance of her accomplishments really means something to me : )
You shared a moment!! 
If I wouldâve known how relieving it was, I wouldâve shared long ago.
That wasnât all, so stay tuned for more moments. I just need inspiration like Simoneâs to encourage me ; )