The audience applauded and cheered enthusiastically. “Lia is 17 years old,” he said, “the second African-American female swimmer to make it to the Olympics.”
More applause, and for a story Rome Neal could finally tell.
Lia Neal qualified for the Olympics earlier this month by finishing fourth in the 100-meter freestyle, putting her on the relay team. In the weeks and months leading to the Olympic swimming trials, her mother, Siu Neal, had admonished her husband of 38 years not to put the cart before the horse, to rein in his flair for the dramatic and generally be cool.
Now Rome was free to spread the word and the joy: his baby girl was an Olympian.
“In the beginning, my wife was saying: ‘Keep it down, keep it down, we don’t want to jinx this thing. Don’t be talking so much about it to people,’ ” he said. “Now I can talk because the whole world is talking.”
A few days before the trials in Omaha, Rome recalled how he had spent the day in New York with Lia. They had gone to the health spa where, as a 5-year-old, she had exhibited the first inkling of interest in swimming. He put her on his back and floated along the surface.
“She couldn’t swim at the time,” Rome Neal said. “She’d be on my back in the water and she would be trying to swim, and I couldn’t swim that well, but the water’s not that deep so I’m making her look like she’s swimming on top of my back.”
For Rome, that moment seems even sweeter today given his daughter’s remarkable journey. One of the issues Lia Neal’s success raises is how the United States in 2012 continues to celebrate access and opportunity in the way of firsts. Sports reflect a larger quandary in the land of opportunity, that so many sports have been resistant to inclusion for all races. The United States swimming team will have three African-Americans in London; the country’s gymnastics team will carry two.
The common explanation is that so-called country club sports are often too expensive given the costs of training, private lessons and travel. But with increasing numbers of African-Americans enjoying great prosperity — even as the gap between rich and poor widens — money can be only a partial explanation. There are other considerations like a lack of familiarity, an absence of tradition and a short history of success.
There were no deep roots for Lia Neal to grab onto. At 17, she is one of the roots and a likely source of inspiration for a younger generation. “This young lady is going to touch someone who’s going to be reaching for that higher goal also because of what Lia is doing right now in the water,” Rome Neal said. There are costs, certainly. But there are also organizations that provide grants and scholarships for swimmers who display talent and commitment. For example, Lia received a scholarship from Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics, a Manhattan nonprofit whose mission is to help people achieve health through sports and fitness, and her school, Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, also contributed money to help defray the costs of training.
“It doesn’t have to be expensive,” Rome Neal said. “If you have raw talent, you can exceed so many barriers. But the sport itself, it can be costly.”