Simone Manuel Makes History for Black Women with Gold Medal Win in Rio!

Simone Manuel gets emotional while celebrating her history-making win at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics on Thursday (August 11) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The 20-year-old swimmer became the first African-American woman to ever win an individual medal in swimming for the United States!

Simone won the gold medal in a rare tie during the Women’s 100m Freestyle final that night. She tied with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak.

“[This gold] is not just for me it’s for a whole bunch of people who have come before me and have been inspiration to me. It’s for [former relay gold medalist] Cullen [Jones] and for all the people after me who believe they can’t do it. I just want to be an inspiration to others to show that you can do it,” Simone said in a post-race interview (via Fox Sports).