Simone Manuel’s response after swimming from behind to tie for gold and breaking the Olympic 100-meter record? “All I can say is all glory to God. … I’m just so blessed.” Manuel is the first African-American woman to win gold in a swimming event, the first African-American woman to medal in an individual swimming event, and the first American to win the 100-meter since 1984.
She will leave Rio with two gold and two silver medals. On Saturday night she won gold as freestyle anchor of the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay team and missed gold by two hundredths of a second in the individual 50-meter freestyle. Earlier in the week she was part of the silver medal team in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, afterward tweeting “All Glory to God! Super blessed by this awesome experience!”
Manuel hopes her example will bust stereotypes of African-American swimmers and motivate others, but looks to the day where her race is a non-issue, commenting “I want to be an inspiration, but I would like there to be a day when it is not ‘Simone the black swimmer’”.
She spoke about the win in relation to the issues facing people of color in the United States.
“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. My color just comes with the territory” .
Original story found at Religious News Service
Photo by Marcos Brindicci/REUTERS
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It’s a simple statement of faith by a 20-year-old young woman, not a Summa Theologica.
If she had expressed gratitude to her parents or coach, I wonder how many people would post comments asking whether she would have done so if she had lost.
I am grateful for this post as I was unaware of Simone Manuel’s accomplishments. Some readers may remember when Al Campanis, who was head of the L.A. Dodgers, stated in an interview with Ted Koppel on ABC’s Nightline in the late 1980s that black people were not good swimmers because they lacked “buoyancy.” Campanis was fired because of this and other remarks he made about blacks’
qualifications to be managers and hold other positions in baseball. Thank God for Simone Manuel!
To God be the glory.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks! for this is the will of Christ Jesus in you.
She most likely would have given glory to God for her being present in Rio in the first place… Being Christian is not about praising God just because things are good for us, it is about gratitude for blessings bestowed even when we are unaware of them.
Yes, but these public shows of Christian gratitude and owing it all to God mostly occur with wins. You don’t see the loosing US football quarterback kneeling in the end zone and giving God the glory because his team lost. You don’t see the Latina football striker running the field and giving God the glory because she missed the goal net.
I see, and have seen, not always on TV at the pro level, countless teams, Christian colleges and high schools esp, form a circle or kneel and thank God, win or lose, for the game. I have seen pro athletes do the same, though again, not captured by the camera, which, of course, is focused on the winner. It might be good for those who make theological comments on athletes, rather than media coverage of them, to talk to team chaplains, athletes who are members of FCA, and others in sports ministries to get a better sense of, what I take to be generally, a commendable and consistent willingness by Christian athletes, win or lose, to give glory to God.
(And BTW I’d be less suspicious of a momentary mention of God, or a raised arm to the sky than the endemic taunting, scorning of an opponent, heavy glare, and bullish breathing that we see after so many dunks. TD’s, receptions, hits and pitches.).