Simone Manuel, a three-time Olympian, has added to her impressive medal collection at the 2024 Olympics by winning three more silver medals. This brings her total Olympic medal count to seven. Her latest achievements include medals in the 4 x 100m Women’s Freestyle Relay and the 4 x 200m Women’s Freestyle Relay.
Here’s what you should know about Olympic Silver Medalist Simone Manuel.
Career Highlights
Simone Manuel’s competitive swimming career took off at age nine, following in the footsteps of her brothers and father, who played competitive basketball. By eleven, she joined Houston’s First Colony Swim Team and quickly rose to become a top swimmer.
In 2014, her first year at Stanford, Simone broke the American and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) records for 100-yard freestyle. She didn’t stop at that as she went on to be a six-time individual NCAA champion and win 16 World championship medals.
At her first Olympics in 2016, she co-set a new Olympics record with Penny Oleksiak and became the first Black American woman to win gold in an Olympic swimming event.
She equally won the Honda Cup for the best overall female collegiate athlete in 2018 before becoming a graduate of Communication and African and African American Studies.
After overcoming an overtraining syndrome diagnosis and a seven-month break in 2021, Manuel made a triumphant return at the 2024 Olympics. In December 2023, she got married to Denzel Franklin who was a Stanford student athlete like herself.
Life Outside Swimming
Simone is dedicated to increasing access to swimming for BIPOC children and communities; this is seen in the inclusion rider contract with TY Sports and her foundation solely created for the cause. She is involved in LeBron James’ foundation and also loves cooking and listening to music, even gospel.
