Swimming star Manuel dives deep into racial injustice
Stanford grad’s fame provides stage to talk about social injustice
Winning medals was never enough. From the moment Simone Manuel stepped onto the pool deck she carried centuries of misconceptions about Black people and swimming into the competitive waters.
Her presence as a budding champion in Sugar Land, Texas, invited questions about being an anomaly — a successful Black woman in a sport dominated by White people.
Manuel, a Stanford graduate
expected to star at the Tokyo Olympics this summer, never felt completely comfortable talking about what it was like, though she did not
shy away from the questions.
She understood the importance of breaking down barriers on her way to becoming the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming.
Sometimes, Manuel said, she just wanted to be known for her swimming prowess.
Manuel said those feelings changed last May because of several highly publicized events that inspired a national conversation about racism in America, including the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, a Black man.
“It was time to have no filter,” said Manuel, 24.
A four-time medalist at the 2016 Olympics, Manuel returned to competition last week for the first time in almost a year in the wake of the emotional strain of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and having a growing role
in the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It would be awesome to just swim, but also I know it would be a waste of my platform to not speak up on issues that need to be talked about,” she said.
As one of the biggest names in her sport, Manuel said she partnered with companies such as Toyota, Nike, Coca-Cola, Comcast and TYR swimsuits to help promote her activist role. Manuel had a rider put in her contract with TYR to ensure diversity is included in sponsorship obligations.
Last Tuesday, Manuel announced the launch of a media and commerce company co-founded with soccer star Alex Morgan, basketball pioneer Sue Bird and snowboard gold medalist Chloe Kim. The star athletes said TOGETHXR will involve activism, culture, wellness, fashion and beauty.
Manuel, who earned a degree in communications with a minor in African and African American studies, recently spoke to children at a Comcast event to announce plans to equip 20 Oakland community centers and parks with Wi-Fi for the next three years. Comcast also gave laptops to 1,000 students.
Manuel said the initiative to help ensure low-income Oakland students have equal learning opportunities dovetails with her mission.
“I don’t want my actions to stay only within the
swimming world,” she said.
The event also gave her a break from training four hours a day for the Tokyo Games — if the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t sabotage them again. Manuel said the kids’ cheers after her video talk reminded her of why she is chasing excellence in the pool in the first place.
She once recounted being 12 years old and asking her mom why more people did not look like her at swim meets.
Manuel and other minority athletes who excel in majority-White sports often have the extra responsibility of serving as symbols
to help create pathways for those behind them. Serena and Venus Williams played the role in tennis, Tiger Woods in golf.
“Rightfully or wrongfully in the public mind that becomes more powerful and carries weight,” said Jeff Wiltse, a University of Montana professor who wrote “Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America.”
Wiltse said the history of racial discrimination in denying swimming pool access has led to disparities in the Black community that Manuel can help change. He said more than half of Black children can’t swim,
leading to a disproportionate number who drown each year.
The professor also said the lack of pool availability perpetuated myths that Black people are incapable of swimming, which, in turn, led to few minorities on competitive teams.
Manuel is well versed in the data as well as her country’s tortured history with racism. She once said saving lives was the most satisfying aspect of what she does, even after she tied Canadian Penny Oleksiak to share the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle.
After the race in Rio, Manuel said, “The title
‘Black swimmer’ makes it seem like I am not supposed to be able to win a gold medal. I am not supposed to be able to break the Olympic record, and that is not true, as I work as hard as anybody else and I love the sport and I want to win, just like everybody else.”
Winning has not been a problem. In 2017, Manuel won five gold medals and one silver medal at the World Championships and followed that in 2019 by becoming the first woman swimmer to win seven medals at the World Championships.
Stanford and U.S. Olympic
coach Greg Meehan has not been surprised by Manuel’s growth outside the pool. He believes she is a better athlete for it.
Meehan said Manuel is paving a path for other minorities to become swimmers, similar to what Barack Obama and Kamala Harris have done in politics.
“It doesn’t make it real until it happens,” Meehan said.
Akilah R. Carter-Francique, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Sports, Society and Social Change at San Jose State, worries about another reality: being labeled an “angry Black woman.”
She said some women have hesitated to speak out for fear of being stereotyped.
“As important as it is” to speak out “it also is important to recognize there is an emotional labor that we endure” by doing it, said Carter-Francique, a San Jose State associate professor of African-American Studies.
Manuel has not let negative perceptions mute her, instead using social media to advance issues of social inequities.
“These things are authentic to who I am and the values that I hold, so talking about them is just another part of my journey,” Manuel said.
With such awareness comes a level of comfort.
“Now it is about being unapologetic for what I stand on, what I have to say,” she said.