African American Cullen Jones Wins Swimming Gold

Cullen Jones was part of the U.S. 4x100m freestyle relay swimming team that won a Gold medal yesterday in Beijing coming from behind to clip the French team in world record time. Also on the team were Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale. Jones, 24, became the second African American to ever win an Olympic gold medal in swimming, and Phelps won his second (of a possible 8) in the Beijing Olympics. At the Athens Olympics, the U.S. team had placed third and Phelps had won 6 Gold and 2 Bronze. He is attempting to break Mark Spitz record of seven golds in a single Olympics.

Jones has a multiple-year deal with Nike and devotes his time trying to educate minorities about the importance of learning to swim. He himself nearly drowned at age 5 and nearly 6 out of 10 Blacks do not know how to swim. African American children ages 5-14 are nearly three times as likely to drown as their white counterparts.

(hat/tip to Rod 2.0 and Craig Hickman.)