avalonsilver reblogged
With an Olympic record tie in the 100m freestyle, 16-year old Penny Oleksiak became the first Canadian to ever win four medals in a single summer Olympics, while 20-year-old Simone Manuel became the first black woman in Olympic history to earn an individual swimming gold medal: “It means a lot [to be the first black woman to earn gold in the pool]. I mean, this medal is not just for me. It’s for a whole bunch of people that came before me and have been an inspiration to me. Maritza [Correia], Cullen [Jones], and it’s for all the people after me, who believe they can’t do it. And I just want to be inspiration to others that you can do it.”