NEW ALBANY, OH (WCMH) – Two African-American swimmers in New Albany will be watching the Rio Olympics closely.

Jada and Tre Johnson are competitive swimmers who attend New Albany High School.

Over the weekend, the siblings watched history be made in Omaha during the U.S. Olympic Trials when two African-American women became the first to qualify for the Olympic Swim Team at the same time.

Lia Neal and Simone Manuel, both star swimmers at Stanford University, qualified for the women’s 4×100 meter freestyle team. Neal competed in the 2012 London Games, but this is the first games for Manual who also qualified for the individual 50-meter freestyle event.

“It makes me feel like I can get there,” said Jada, who swims year round. “It makes me feel like there are people who are like me that can aspire to be at this level.”

The success of Neal and Manuel is setting a new tone in competitive swimming for African-Americans. Jada and Tre believe it’s giving young black children a reason to get into the pool.

“They want to be baseball players, or be football players. You don’t see a lot of African-Americans say ‘I want to be a swimmer,'” said Tre.

Tre, who will be a senior at New Albany High School this upcoming year, competes in a recreation league. He is also focused on teaching other kids how to swim competitively.

“I will probably expect more African-Americans to be in the water in the future,” said Tre.

The siblings said they will be glued to the television when Neal and Manuel hit the pool in Rio.

“I’m going to make sure to watch their relays and individual events,” said Jada.

The Rio Olympic Games begin August 5, 2016. You can catch all the action on NBC4 and the NBC family networks.What others are clicking on: