African-American Women Make Olympic History by Winning Gold in Swimming, Gymnastics & Shot Put

– The Olympics continue in Rio de Janeiro, where Stanford swimmer Simone Manuel has made history, becoming the first African-American female swimmer to win an Olympic medal in an individual event. After winning, Manuel said, “It means a lot, especially with what is going on in the world today, some of the issues of police brutality. This win hopefully brings hope and change to some of the issues that are going on.” Manuel’s win was only one of a number of historic Olympic victories for African-American female athletes over the last week. African-American gymnast Simone Biles scored her third gold medal when she became the first American woman to win the Olympic vault individual. And Michelle Carter became the first American woman to win a gold medal in shot put. For more, we speak with Jesse Washington, a senior writer for The Undefeated. He’s covering the Olympics from Rio.

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