LeBron James praises Simone Manuel on winning Olympic gold

LeBron James has always been one to recognize greatness, praising American swimmer Simone Manuel on winning Olympic gold in the 100 m freestyle.

While the greatest basketball player on the planet in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James is not representing Team USA on the hardwood, James has been known to recognize greatness among athletes across all sports.

James showed his appreciation for Team USA swimmer Simone Manuel on setting an Olympic record in the 100 m freestyle by retweeting her and teammate Lia Neal’s video via Uninterrupted on Twitter.

Manuel is a 20-year collegiate swimmer at Pac-12 powerhouse Stanford University. Not only did she tie Canada’s Penny Oleksiak in the 100 m freestyle for Olympic gold at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but they set a world record in the event at 52.70 seconds.

Earlier in the swimming competition of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Manuel became the first African-American women to medal in an event in United States’ history. She and three of her Team USA teammates (Abbey Weitzeil, Dana Volmer, and Katie Ledecky) took home Olympic silver in the 4×100 m freestyle relay on August 6th.

Manuel swam first in that relay event but did something even more impressive on August 11th by being the first African-American women to win Olympic gold in a swimming event. She is the first black female to medal in a swimming event since Enith Brigitha of the Netherlands took home two bronze medals in the 1976 Montreal Games.

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The United States has always been one of the better nations in Olympic swimming competitions. While swimming has been a niche sport in the United States for many years, given the difficulty of finding pool access and the rigorous demands of club swimming, perhaps Manuel will inspire a new generation of young Americans to get into the pool and chase their dreams?

Having James’ ringing endorsement will only bring more attention to Manuel and her already immensely popular Olympic sport. At 20 years old, Manuel is already a United States Summer Olympic legend.