Five-time Olympic medalist Simon Manuel was eliminated in the preparations for the 50-meter freestyle on Paris Olympics on Saturday.
Manuel, the first black woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming, posted the 18th-fastest time in the hectic one-length sprint in the pool. It wasn’t good enough to make it to tonight’s semi-finals.
Manuel’s time of 24.87 seconds was a full 1.02 behind the fastest qualifier, Sarah Sjöström from Sweden.
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After the race, Manuel — who won silver in the women’s 4x100m free relay earlier in the tournament — stormed off the deck and right past reporters. Asked to stop for a question, she replied “no” and continued.
The finish was the latest disappointment for the U.S. swim team, which entered the penultimate day of competition with 21 medals but just four golds. It’s a performance that fell short of expectations for the world’s dominant swimming nation.
Several high-profile swimmers have failed to even make the finals of some of their best events.
Caeleb Dressel, a star of the Tokyo Olympics with five gold medals, was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100 butterfly and broke down in tears after leaving the deck.
Ryan Murphy, a long-time backstroker, took a bronze in the 100 back and was knocked out in the semi-finals of the 200 – far short of his goal of reclaiming the titles he took at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
