Olympic Gold Medalist Cullen Jones Teaches Water Safety to Children
Cullen
Jones’ first encounter with swimming was almost his last. As a child,
Jones almost drowned while attempting to swim in a water park. Instead
of allowing fear to deter him from swimming, Jones decided to learn how
to swim and eventually fell in love with the sport. In 2008 he garnered
worldwide attention by becoming just the third black American to make
the U.S. Olympic swimming team and he took home a gold medal in the
4×100 freestyle relay. Jones encourages African American kids to get
involved with swimming and he recently joined with the USA Swimming
Foundation and ConocoPhillips to host a six-city tour called “Make a
Splash with Cullen Jones.” –amir shaw
Why is it important to teach black kids water safety?
I almost drowned and it affected me until I got older. I realized there
was a problem when I discovered the statistics of black Americans
drowning. It was alarming because blacks are three times more likely to
drowned. I’ve been able to bring more attention to the problem. It’s a
problem that we can cure. We’re giving low cost lessons [to] kids.
Why aren’t more blacks involved in swimming?
I get those comments a lot. People often ask me if I play basketball.
There’s something that happens in the developmental stage. … Parents
usually tell their kids not to be around water because they don’t know
how to swim. We want to get more black kids involved in swimming, but
we first have to get their parents on board.
Were you overwhelmed when you set a world record and won a gold medal?
I only think about it when other people tell me. I only think about it
when people ask me for an autograph. For me, I’m just writing my name
on something, but it’s amazing to see the kids’ faces. I don’t
understand why some pro athletes don’t sign autographs. In only five
seconds, you can change someone’s life.
