USA TODAY NETWORK
RIO DE JANEIRO — At age 11, Simone Manuel asked her mother the question all African-American competitive swimmers inevitably ask: Why aren’t there more swimmers that look like me?
Her mother didn’t have an answer.
“I said, ‘That’s a good question. I don’t know, so let’s look it up,’ ” said Sharron Manuel, Simone’s mother. “We got on the internet and looked up information. We pulled different articles and started reading. I think that was the moment she realized she had a bigger role to play in what she was doing in the sport of swimming.