Sugar Land 2016 Olympics Update: Simone Manuel

SUGAR LAND, TX — Simone Manuel earned a place in the history books when she became the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic swimming event.

Although many people are saying that Manuel is the first black woman to medal in an individual Olympic swimming event that honors goes to Enith Brigitha.

Brigitha was a Curaçaoan who represented the Netherlands at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. She took the bronze in the women's 100m and 200m freestyle races.

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The first black swimmer to take home a gold medal in an individual event was Anthony Nesty. Nesty won gold in the 100m butterfly for Suriname at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

The first African-American to win a gold medal in an individual swimming event was Anthony Ervin, who won gold in the 50m freestyle at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

The first African-American woman to medal in a swimming event was Maritza Correia, who took silver in the 2004 Athens games as part of the U.S.A.'s 4 x 100m relay team.

The first African-American woman to medal in swimming events at back-to-back Olympic games was Lia Neal, who took bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay at the 2012 Olympics in London and silver in the same event this year in Rio.

Neal shares her silver medal with Manuel, who was also part of this year's relay team.

None of that history lesson was to diminish Manuel's accomplishment, just to clarify the record.