Simone Ashley Manuel, born on August 2, 1996, in Sugar Land, Texas, is an American professional swimmer renowned for her dominance in freestyle events.
Growing up in a competitive athletic family, she displayed early talent in the water, swimming the length of a pool during her second swim lesson at age four.
Manuel’s journey in swimming began as a way to keep up with her brothers, but it quickly evolved into a path of groundbreaking achievements.
She attended Fort Bend Austin High School, where she broke American records, before enrolling at Stanford University in 2014.
There, she balanced academics and athletics, earning a degree in communications in 2018 while shattering multiple NCAA and American records.
Manuel turned professional that same year, becoming the first athlete to incorporate an inclusion rider into a sports contract with TYR Sport, ensuring diversity in her partnerships.
Siblings
Simone has two older brothers, Chris and Ryan.
Both brothers are accomplished NCAA basketball athletes, following in the footsteps of their father, Marc, who played collegiate basketball at Xavier University.
Chris and Ryan competed at the Division I level, with Ryan suiting up for Southern Methodist University during his senior year, where the team ranked in the top 25 and eyed March Madness.
The siblings’ bond is tight; Simone and Ryan, in particular, stay connected daily through texts and calls, supporting each other’s pursuits despite attending colleges across the country—Simone at Stanford and Ryan at SMU.
Growing up in Sugar Land, the Manuel children were immersed in sports, with all three taking summer swim lessons alongside basketball tournaments and other activities.
Career
Manuel burst onto the national scene as a junior, becoming the first American to break the 25-second barrier in the 50-meter freestyle.
At Stanford, she joined the Cardinal women’s swimming team in 2014, immediately shattering school records in the 50-, 100-, and 200-yard freestyle events.
Her freshman year saw her break American and NCAA records in the 100-yard freestyle, a feat she repeated en route to six individual NCAA titles in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle across 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Manuel anchored relays to additional championships, contributing to Stanford’s NCAA team titles in 2017 and 2018, and earning Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year honors.
She redshirted her sophomore season for the 2016 Olympics but returned stronger, captaining the team in her senior year.
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Turning professional in 2018, Manuel signed with TYR, pioneering the inclusion rider to promote diversity.
Internationally, she claimed her first world titles at the 2017 FINA World Championships, winning gold in the 100-meter freestyle and anchoring the victorious 4×100 medley relay.
At the 2019 Worlds in Gwangju, she became the first American woman to sweep the 50- and 100-meter freestyle golds at a single meet, setting an American record in the 100 free.
A diagnosis of overtraining syndrome in 2021 forced a seven-month hiatus, but Manuel staged a remarkable comeback, relocating to train under Bob Bowman in Arizona.
By 2024, she had reclaimed her form, winning the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Trials to secure her third Olympic berth, while also capturing golds in the 100- and 200-meter freestyle at the TYR Pro Swim Series.
Her career, spanning over a decade, blends elite performance with off-pool initiatives, including partnerships with LeBron James’ I Promise School for youth swim lessons.
Accolades
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Manuel debut at age 20, she etched her name in the annals by becoming the first African American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming, tying Canada’s Penny Oleksiak for the 100-meter freestyle crown with an Olympic and American record of 52.70 seconds.
She added another gold anchoring the 4×100-meter medley relay to victory and secured silvers in the 50-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, totaling four medals.
In Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), despite battling overtraining syndrome, Manuel anchored the U.S. to bronze in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, she contributed to two silver medals in the women’s 4×100-meter and 4×200-meter freestyle relays, bringing her Olympic haul to two golds, three silvers, and one bronze across three Games.
On the world stage, Manuel boasts 11 medals from FINA World Championships, including three individual golds: the 100-meter freestyle in 2017 and both the 50- and 100-meter freestyle in 2019, where she out-touched world-record holder Sarah Sjöström in the latter.
She holds three world records as a relay swimmer and has anchored world-record-setting performances in the 4×100 medley relay.
Domestically, her six NCAA individual titles, 14 total NCAA championships, and records in multiple freestyle events earned her the 2018 Honda Sports Award for Swimming and the Honda Cup as Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
Manuel’s honors extend to the Golden Goggles Female Race of the Year in 2016 and USA Swimming’s Female Swimmer of the Year in 2019, underscoring a legacy of excellence that transcends the pool.
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