Simone Manuel will leave Rio with four Olympic medals, but none will be sweeter than her gold in the 100m freestyle, which made her the first African-American woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming.
Coming into the games, we didn’t hear much about Manuel and instead focused on the other Simone, the gymnast who has a chance of winning a record five gold medals in the Olympics, but it’s Manuel who has had a surprising impact.
In the heats leading up to the 100m freestyle, Manuel swam well enough, but no one considered her for gold.