RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — When she was 11, Simone Manuel came home and asked her mother a question: Why weren't there more people who looked like her in swimming?
Mom didn't have an answer.
"We got on the internet and did some searches and we came up with some information," Sharron Manuel said. "At that moment she really realized she was OK with who she was. It was important for me to do that for her because even at that time I saw she could do something special."
Her parents were in the stands behind the medal podium at the Olympic Aquatics Center on Thursday night to see their daughter swim her signature event at the Rio Games.