RIO DE JANEIRO -- Sugar Land's Simone Manuel is an Olympic gold medal winner.
Manuel, 20, tied for gold during the 100-meter freestyle Thursday night, becoming the first African-American woman to win an Olympic medal in an individual swimming event. Manuel made a late push during the race to catch Penny Oleksiak of Canada. The two both touched the wall at exactly 52.70.
After the race, Manuel said "all I can say is all glory to God. It's definitely been a long journey these past four years, and I'm just so blessed to have the gold medal.
"The medal is not just for me, it's for a whole bunch of people who have came before me and been an inspiration to me, and it's for all the people after me who believe they can't do it. I want to be an inspiration to them that they can do it."
The last time an American woman won gold in the event was 1984, when Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer also tied.
This is the first tie for a gold medal since Anthony Ervin and Gary Hall Jr. did it in the 50 free in Sydney in 2000.
USA TODAY and CBS News contributed to this report.
