Olympic Swim Team's 2nd Black Woman

Seventeen-year-old Lia Neal earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team's 400 freestyle relay team on Saturday night, when she came in fourth in the 100-meter freestyle finals. Her thoughts about being the second African-American woman in her sport to represent the United States in the games: "It's a pretty big title" and "really…

Seventeen-year-old Lia Neal earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team's 400 freestyle relay team on Saturday night, when she came in fourth in the 100-meter freestyle finals. Her thoughts about being the second African-American woman in her sport to represent the United States in the games: "It's a pretty big title" and "really โ€ฆ cool," she told the Associated Press.

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Lia, who is also half Chinese, comes after the first black woman to make the U.S. Olympic swim team, Maritza Correia, who was a silver medalist in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay in 2004.

โ€œI definitely knew about Maritza Correia being the first one,โ€ Neal said. โ€œI never thought about me being the second one going into the race, but I guess thatโ€™s really a cool title to have.โ€

Neal, gold medalist in the 100 freestyle at the World Junior Championships, competed in the trials when she was 13 but didnโ€™t come close to making it out of prelims in the 50 and 100 free.

She sneaked into the 100 finals with an eighth-place finish in Fridayโ€™s semifinals, at 54.60 seconds. She clocked a 54.33 on Saturday, behind Jessica Hardy, Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt.

โ€œThose last few strokes were really tough,โ€ Neal said through tears of joy. โ€œI felt at that point I was just flailing my arms, doing whatever I could to get to the wall. When I first saw my time, I was in complete shock. Itโ€™s crazy.โ€

Neal, who lives in Brooklyn, started taking swimming lessons with friends when she was 6. She showed promise, and a swim mom recommended when she was 8 that she try out for a swim team. Sheโ€™s been training ever since with Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Read more at the Washington Post.

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