The Olympics are more about medals than numbers. But here’s an eye-opening stat:
In the United States, African-Americans ages 5 to 19 die in swimming pool accidents at 51⁄2 times the rate of whites in the same age group. That comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What does this have to do with the Olympics?
It’s why Simone Manuel’s gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle is the most significant achievement of the Rio Games for the US. It will save lives.
Not that Michael Phelps and his 23 medals won’t. When the most awarded Olympian and greatest swimmer of all-time announced his retirement from competition after five more golds and a silver at the Rio Games, he said one of his plans is to continue good works in water safety, including through his foundation, which teaches kids to swim.
That’s great.
But Manuel is the first African-American woman to win individual gold in swimming at the Olympics — the world stage, when everyone is watching. That includes little girls and boys — and their parents — who used to think swimming was something for other kids. Kids not of their race.
Championship athletes are often credited with inspiring young people to strive for greatness as they take up their sport. How often do the kids also pick up a practical survival skill in the process?
You may wonder why a lower percentage of blacks than whites learn to swim. It goes back generations, to when segregation kept African-Americans out of pools.
Some folks are sick of race and sports. Sometimes I feel that way myself — the reason being that in a better world the two wouldn’t be linked so often. There wouldn’t be so much disparity to address.
It’s been 80 years since Jesse Owens’ four gold medals and 17 other African-American athletes crushed Hitler’s theory of Aryan superiority at the Berlin Games. Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color line nearly 70 years ago.
Still, though, racial strife and violence continue to divide America. Even in sports, where you are supposedly judged strictly on merit and production, limited resources in underserved communities put many minorities at a disadvantage. Baseball and soccer, in particular, are lagging.
Like Manuel, Serena Williams in tennis, Tiger Woods in golf and Simone Biles in gymnastics prove blacks can be the best in “country club” and other sports where African-Americans previously had little or no access.
Manuel herself said she longs for the day when she is no longer known as “the black swimmer.” But she understands her impact.
“How I’m swimming (is) hopefully bringing some awareness to the sport to diversify it,” she said on “Good Morning America.” “But I also swim for myself. … I try not to put too much pressure on myself. Hopefully I’m an inspiration for others to get into the water.”
If a great champion comes out of it, that’s just a bonus. As it is also with Phelps’ foundation, the real victory will be kids learning water safety basics and cutting into the U.S.’s 3,500 accidental drownings each year of people of all races.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads Opens in a new tab.
