Page 4
August 17, 2016
Simone Manuel celebrates winning the gold medal and setting a new Olympic record in the women’s
100-meter freestyle during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics. (AP photo)
Athletes Make Olympic History
Minority firsts
dominate this
year’s games
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b y C ervante p ope
t he p ortland o bServer
Athletes representing the Unit-
ed States at the 2016 Olympics in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are bring-
ing home gold for the nation and
for black history.
Stanford University swimmer
Simone Manuel kicked off a se-
ries of unprecedented achieve-
ments by being the first black
female swimmer to win an Olym-
pic medal for an individual event.
Her glory defeats what Jim Crow
laws and stereotypes fought so
hard to maintain as truth – that
blacks can’t swim with whites, let
alone better than they can.
Simone Biles, 19, became the
first American woman to win
four gymnatics gold medals in a
single Olympic Games on Tues-
day when she won the women’s
floor exercise. She’s also the first
American woman to win the in-
dividual Olympic vault compe-
tition. Her fellow black gymnast
Gabby Douglas, still riding high
from her gold medal in the 2012
London Olympics, faced public
scrutiny in Brazil where online
spectators have made racial com-
ments regarding her hair, facial
expressions and for not placing
her hand over her heart during the
National Anthem after winning
gold in team competition.
“I tried to stay off the internet
because there’s just so much neg-
ativity,” Douglas said during her
post-competition interview.
More firsts come by way of
Michelle Carter, who is now the
first American woman to win
a gold medal in shot put. Her
Olympic athleticism runs through
her blood, as Carter threw far-
ther than her father and coach
Michael Carter’s previous win of
the silver medal for shot put at the
1984 Olympics, according to the
Huffington Post.
Not all triumphs are award-
ed with medals, though. Black
Muslim female fencer Ibtihaj
Muhammad may not have won a
medal in the women’s sabre fenc-
ing individual competition, but
she is the first American athlete
to compete while wearing a hijab,
the traditional headscarf worn by
Muslim women. “In this particu-
lar political climate in the history
of this country, it is groundbreak-
ing to have a Muslim woman on
the U.S. team,” Muhammad told
BBC. “I am excited to challenge
the stereotypes and misconcep-
tions people have about Muslim
women.”
If there’s anything that can
be remembered about the Rio
Olympics for years to come, it’s
the wealth of inspiration the com-
peting black women have left as
their legacy.
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