I was thrilled to see her win! As a former competitive swimmer, lifeguard, swim coach, and finally aquatic center manager; I can say how difficult it is/was to find swimmers of color. I ran a pool in the part of town that was mostly African American, but struggled to find lifeguard candidates who were POC. I so badly wanted for the authority figures at the pool to reflect the community they served. Any time I'd find a kid who was interested I'd mentor them and try to get them to ratchet up their skill set so I could get them into a guard class... in three years I only got one kid who could make it all the way through. Some failed due to lack of interest/fear of the water/societal pressure, others due to lack of skill. It was very frustrating.
This was mid-90's, I'm hoping Simone does for swimming what Tiger tried to do for golf.