In 2016, swimmer Simone Manuel made history when she became the first Black American woman to win gold in an Olympic swimming event. In Tokyo, she won bronze in the 4 x 100m relay, and in Paris, she's looking to add to her medal tally. Her husband, Denzel Franklin, will be rooting for her.
"I think I knew he was the one just based off of how he made me feel," Manuel of her husband. "I never got tired of talking to him. We could talk about anything and everything.
He didn’t judge me. He really didn’t care about swimming in the sense that I felt like he really wanted to be with me for me. And I think sometimes that can be tough to find.
I think especially after winning gold in 2016, I was kind of approached by people but he just really genuinely cared for me as Simone Manuel, the person." After Paris, she says, she's looking forward to more time with Franklin. She to "go on a honeymoon, really travel the world together.
That’s something that we really want to do. And then just see what the future holds," she said. Here's everything you need to know about Simone Manuel's husband Denzel Franklin: Franklin is the son of Ron Franklin and Rosa Staelin.
He grew up in Smyrna, Georgia, where he played high school basketball, football, and competed on the track and field team. He played four seasons at Stanford University as a safety. At Stanford, he majored in urban studies.
They met as freshman at Stanford in 2014 at a new student orientation."We actually somehow got partnered up and we just kind of connected right off the bat. We had to do several different activities with our partner, but one of them was to make our partner laugh without talking, but we obviously didn’t hear those instructions," Simone told .
"We were just kind of talking with each other, getting to know each other. And then our resident assistant comes around, he was like, ‘Do you realize you two are the only ones talking?’ And we’re like, ‘No.’ We totally had no clue that we weren’t doing the new student orientation activity.
But that just kind of kickstarted our friendship." But they were friends for a few years; according to an , the start of their relationship dates to February 2017. While Franklin's Instagram is private, he makes his first appearance on Manuel's feed in March 2017: In November 2017, she posts a photo with him in his football uniform: If you swipe on this Instagram, you can see them in their graduation robes): Manuel knew Franklin was the one because "he made me feel beautiful," she .
"I think that I have struggled with that, especially in the sport of swimming and how I look and present myself and even how I look now. He would tell me that I was beautiful, and he just never really expected me to change. He really loved me for being my authentic self.
" They got engaged in California. "As sunset approached, Denzel got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife," Manuel . "It was very intimate, natural and private, and I couldn't ask for a better proposal.
" Their first wedding was an elopement in Arizona in November 2022. "Denzel and I exchanged our own written vows in front of our parents and my grandmother," Manuel . "We decided to have a small elopement to start our journey and life together as a married couple after moving to Arizona.
" She adds, "it couldn't have been more romantic, intimate, and special, as we celebrated our love against the beautiful Arizona scenery." Their second wedding was a grander affair in Houston, Texas. "We wanted a wedding that had nods to our personality as people and a couple.
Entertainment, good food and drinks were important to us, but most importantly bringing both sides of our family and friends in one space to have fellowship with one another," Manuel explained. According to his , he is an Assistant Project Manager at . Before, he worked at Toll Brothers as a Project Engineer and in Operations at Beacon Roofing Supply.
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