By Simone Manuel entered her name in the history book, when she became first black woman in Olympic history to earn an individual swimming gold medal and the first African-American woman to win an individual medal.
The groundbreaking win, in which Manuel shared the podium with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak after a tie, would be worth celebrating in the context of any sport. But the particular racist history of American swimming pools — and resulting lack of opportunity for black swimmers for decades — makes it an even more poignant victory.
