August 11, 2008, Cullen Jones and teammates Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, and Jason Lezak, of the U.S. Olympic Swim team, won a gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay. It was a historic win for the team as well as for African Americans.
Cullen Jones was born on February 29, 1984, in the Bronx, New York, he grew up in New Jersey. Jones started swimming at the age of 8. He was recognized more for his swimming accomplishments while at Saint Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey. Although he told usaswimming.org:
“I didn’t start off as this child prodigy in the water. I was the one getting the purple or pink ribbon, the kid in Lane 7 going slow.”
In 2007, during the preliminary, he set a record for the World University Games in the 50m with the time 22.17 seconds, he then won the gold with 22.2 seconds.
At the United States Olympic Trials in July 2008, Jones came in third which left him unable to compete in the 50m in Beijing, but he did qualify to swim with Michael Phelps, Garrett Webber-Gale, and Jason Lezak in the 4x100m.
Now he is apart of one of the most exciting wins of the Olympics in swimming. The French swim team were reported saying they would “smash” the U.S.A team and even NBC commentator, Rowdy Gaines predicted that the U.S.A team wouldn’t be able to beat the French, but in the last leg of the relay Jason Lezak touched the wall of the pool in just eight one-hundredths of a second to the French time snatching the victory.
Cullen Jones is a graduate from North Carolina State University, he majored in English and minored in Psychology and after signing a 7 year multimillion dollar endorsement deal with Nike he became a professional swimmer.
Jones’ hard work and training took him to the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in, where he set a record at the meet in the 50m freestyle with a time of 22.84 seconds. He also swam with Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak, and Neil Walker in the 4x100m freestyle.
With Jones in the middle of this victory he now has the spotlight and hopes to help get more minority youths interest and involved in swimming.
According to MSNBC.com Bank of America announced just hours after the win in the 400-meter relay that they will sponsor his Cullen Jones Tour. Focused on getting more youth from different minorities to get into swimming the tour will consist of swim meets and clinics.
Statistics now show that blacks ages 10-19 drown nearly three times more often than whites. Jones wants to be an influence on minorities to pull them to the pool.
According to Kansascity.com Jones said:
"I've gone to a driving range before and hit golf balls because I saw Tiger Woods doing it on TV; I want more minority kids to go to a swimming pool and try to swim because of me. I know I'm nowhere near Tiger Woods. But I want to make a difference. I want kids to say, 'Look a black swimmer. And he's got a gold medal!' And I want them to get in the water because of it."
