Olympics: Paper apologizes for 'racially insensitive' Simone Manuel headline

The San Jose Mercury News has apologized for the headline "Olympics: Michael Phelps shares historic night with African-American," that it ran after U.S. swimmer Simone Manuel won a gold medal at the Rio Olympics on Thursday.

SEE MORE: Everything you need to know about the Summer Olympics

The original headline was ridiculed across social media for being racially insensitive.

The 20-year-old became the first African-American woman to win a gold in an individual swimming event when she tied with Canadian Penny Oleksiak in the 100 freestyle. However, her moment in history was underplayed by the paper.

The headline was later changed and the following message was added to the story: "The original headline on this story was insensitive and has been updated to acknowledge the historic gold medal wins by both Simone Manuel and Michael Phelps. We apologize for the original headline. The story has also been updated."

See images of the Olympic swimmer:

Also Read:Simone Manuel Becomes First African-American Female Olympic Swimmer to Win Individual Gold

Manuel is a Stanford student so the San Jose Mercury News in Northern California is one of the local papers in that region. The headline now recognizes that regional connection, "Olympics: Stanford's Simone Manuel and Michael Phelps make history."

"This medal is not just for me," Manuel is quoted as saying in the story. "It's for a whole bunch of people that came before me and have been an inspiration to me. It's for all the people after me, who believe they can't do it. And I just want to be inspiration to others that you can do it."

The New York Daily News pointed out that the paper still didn't the second time with, "Olympics: Michael Phelps shares historic night Stanford's Simone Manuel."

Also Read:Ratings: Simone Biles, Michael Phelps Can't Reach NBC's Rio Record

They finally got it right on the third try.

Manuel's groundbreaking victory and Olympic-record time of 52.70 seconds won accolades from fellow athletes and entertainment stars alike in an outpouring of love on social media and hate from people who saw the original headline.

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Olympics 2016: Team USA Gold Medal Tracker (Videos)

Team USA is once again expected to contend for the top spot in the medal count at this year's Olympics in Rio De Janeiro. Here are the athletes that have claimed the gold medal so far.

Virginia Thrasher, Women's 10m Air Rifle -- The 19-year-old engineering major at West Virginia University dreamed of being a figure skater, but found her path to Olympic gold through a rifle instead. She surprised everyone by beating out Chinese shooters Du Li and Yi Siling, who have won the gold in this event in past Olympics.

Katie Ledecky, Women's 400m Freestyle -- Ledecky's quest to go four-for-four in her swimming events got off to a flying start on Sunday, when she smashed her own world record time and beat the rest of the field by five seconds.

Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, Ryan Held and Nathan Adrian, Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay -- For all his success, Michael Phelps regretted coming second in the freestyle relay to France at the London Olympics in 2012. This time was different, as Phelps used his powerful kick to give Team USA a lead that they would never give up.

Ryan Murphy, Men's 100m Backstroke -- With Murphy's record-setting victory at 51.97 seconds, Team USA has won the gold in this event in six consecutive Olympics. Murphy was joined on the podium by teammate David Plummer, who took bronze.

Lilly King, Women's 100m Breaststroke -- King made headlines when she called out Russian rival Yulia Efimova, who was initially among those banned from competing during the Russian doping scandal but was later cleared to compete by the International Olympic Committee. King backed up her words by setting a new Olympic record in the event with a time of 1:04.93. Efimova took silver and American Katie Meili took bronze.

Katie Ledecky, Women's 200m Freestyle -- Swedish sprint swimmer Sarah Sjostrom was neck and neck with Ledecky through the entire race, but Ledecky managed to stave her off and win gold #2 by 0.35 seconds.

Michael Phelps, Men's 200m Butterfly -- Much was made by the media about the rivalry between Phelps and South Africa's Chad Le Clos, who beat Phelps in London. But the biggest threat was Japan's Masato Sakai, whom Phelps edged out by just four hundredths of a second to win his 20th Olympic gold.

Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, Ryan Lochte, and Michael Phelps, Men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay -- Team USA has now won the gold in this event in the last four Olympics, with Lochte and Phelps as members of every winning team.

Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian; Women's Team Gymnastics -- In London, there was the Fierce Five. In Rio, there was the Final Five, named in honor of being the last team coached by legendary gymnastics guru Marta Karolyi. Indeed, the U.S. women gave their coach a sendoff for the ages, winning the gold by a whopping 8.2 points.

Kristin Armstrong -- Women's Cycling Time Trial -- Though the roads of Rio were slick with rainwater, Armstrong prevailed in the "Race of Truth" to become the oldest American woman to win an individual gold medal with a victory a day prior to her 43rd birthday.

Allison Schmidt, Leah Smith, Maya DiRado, and Katie Ledecky; Women's 4x200 Freestyle Relay -- Team USA was just under a second out of the lead when Ledecky entered the pool as the team's anchor, but once she was in, Ledecky pulled out to a firm lead to win USA Swimming's eighth gold of these Olympics. Previous Slide Next Slide 1 of 12

Here's every American victory at the Rio Olympics

Team USA is once again expected to contend for the top spot in the medal count at this year's Olympics in Rio De Janeiro. Here are the athletes that have claimed the gold medal so far. View In Gallery

Read original story Olympics: Paper Apologizes for 'Racially Insensitive' Simone Manuel Headline At TheWrap