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Simone Manuel

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Swimmer

The Resume

    (August 2, 1996- )
    Born in Sugar Land, Texas
    At the Rio Summer Olympics (2016), won gold medals in 100-meter free style and the 4x100-meter medley and silver medals in the 50-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter freestyle medley

Why she might be annoying:

    She considered quitting swimming when she was twelve ‘because I didn’t feel that I fitted in.’
    Rather than show her historic gold medal ceremony live, NBC showed a taped segment about the Russian gymnastics team. (NBC aired the ceremony an hour later, at midnight.)
    She signed a deal to endorse Nike footwear, even though she became famous in a sport where you compete barefooted.
    She said it sometimes becomes ‘exhausting’ to be the only swimmer asked about racial issues.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual swimming event.
    She won the Honda Cup as best overall female college athlete (2018).
    She was the first woman to win seven medals at a single World Championship (2019).
    She taught swimming to students at LeBron James’ I Promise School.
    She partnered with Hunger Not Impossible to provide meals in Houston.
    She said, ‘Shouldn’t diversity, equality, and inclusion be important to all of us? It can’t just be important to black people.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying