Simone Manuel is an American professional swimmer specializing in freestyle events. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter medley, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In winning the 100-meter freestyle, a tie with Penny Oleksiak of Canada, Manuel became the first Black American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming and set an Olympic record and an American record. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she won a bronze medal as the anchor of the American 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.

Manuel also holds three world records as a member of a relay team, and she is a six-time individual NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships champion, becoming one of the first three African-American women to place in the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle event in any Division I NCAA Swimming Championship. From 2014 to 2018, she attended Stanford University, where she swam for the Stanford Cardinal and helped Stanford win the NCAA team championship in women's swimming and diving in 2017 and 2018. She turned pro in July 2018.

After entering Stanford in 2014, she became a member of the Stanford Cardinal women's swimming team. She broke the school records in the 50-, 100-, and 200-yard freestyle in the same year, and in 2014, her freshman year, she also broke the American and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) records for 100-yard freestyle. Manuel is a six-time individual NCAA champion: winning the 50- and 100-yard freestyle in 2015, 2017, and 2018. She redshirted in 2016. As a senior, she won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's best female swimmer as well as the Honda Cup for the best overall female collegiate athlete. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources

• Gomes, Maya. "Simone Manuel: Meet the Athlete." NBCOlympics.com, published 13 June 2024. < link > Accessed 20 June 2024.
• "Simone Manuel." Wikipedia, revision of 20 June 2024. < link > Accessed 20 June 2024.