For my final story covering the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, let’s take a last look at some of the many great performances and achievements of the female Olympians.
Katie Ledecky
Katie Ledecky (19) was one of the big stories of the U.S. team this Olympics, having won a whopping 5 medals: 4 gold in 200m-, 400m-, and 800m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay and 1 silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay. As if that wasn’t enough, Ledecky medaled in the 400m and 800m by breaking the world records she herself had established in 2014 and January 2016, respectively.
In addition to her swimming prowess, Ledecky also demonstrated great team spirit. Against logic, Ledecky stayed up late the night before the 800 in order to congratulate her room- and teammate, Simone Manuel, after Manuel took gold in the women’s 100m freestyle.
According to the New York Times, Manuel said, “She said I’m not going to sleep until I give you a hug. That meant a lot to me.”
Simone Manuel
Speaking of Simone Manuel, she had an excellent Olympics in her own right. Manuel (20) tied with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak for the gold medal in the women’s 100m freestyle swim, becoming the first African-American female athlete to achieve gold in an individual event in swimming. Manuel’s victory is not only a credit to her, but is laden with special historical significance: the U.S. has a long history of excluding African-Americans from recreational swimming by denying access to public pools and beaches. This has led to a dangerous lack of swimming skills in minorities: nearly 70% of African-American children and nearly 60% of Hispanic children possess little to no swimming ability compared to 40% of white children, increasing the minority children’s risk of drowning.
Manuel said, “I would like there to be a day where there are more of us and it’s not ‘Simone, the black swimmer’, because the title ‘black swimmer’ makes it seem like I’m not supposed to be able to win a gold medal or […] break records and that’s not true because I work just as hard as anybody else.”
Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin
On August 18, 18-year-old Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin became the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal when she took the bronze in taekwondo in the 57kg category. Zenoorin won Iran’s fifth medal of the Rio games after defeating Sweden’s Nikita Glasnovic 5-1. Her victory is particularly poignant after an incident on August 13, when an Iranian protester was removed for displaying a political sign at a volleyball match, calling for Iranian women to be able to view sports in their own stadiums. Volleyball is extremely popular in Iran, and women are allowed to play; but in a nation where women are under severe restrictions, women cannot watch men playing sports in public, even if male family members are among the players, and police are often posted at stadiums to enforce this separation.
“I am so happy for Iranian girls because it is the first medal,” said Zenoorin, “and I hope at the next Olympics we will get a gold.”
Abbey D’Agostino and Nikki Hamblin (update)
I’ve already mentioned D’Agostino and Hamblin before, but this latest development deserved an update: After their extraordinary display of sportsmanship at the women’s 5000m heat, they have become the 18th and 19th recipients of the rarely-awarded Pierre de Courbertin medal. Also known as the International Fair Play Committee Award, the medal is given to athletes and others within the sporting industry who notably demonstrate sportsmanship or make other noteworthy contributions to the Olympics.
