Black People Can Swim: World Champion Cullen Jones and his Foundation Make a Splash

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

Black and Brown kids can swim, but they don't have the same opportunities to learn and practice swimming.

This is brief conversation I had with Cullen Jones, one of the U.S. Olympic Gold medalist in Beijing 2008. He is the 2007 World Champion, 2006 Fastest Swimmer in the World and a World Record holder.

Jones was in DC for the 23rd Annual Black History Invitational Swim Meet, an event organized by DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and The United Black Fund, Inc. (UBF) honoring Black History Month.

Cullen Jones once participated in the DC Black History Swim Meet, ending last in the trials. But with his own effort and the support of his family, he has become one of the best swimmers of the world today.

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Culen Jones has created the Make a Splash Foundation with USA Swimming, to promote swimming among Black and Brown children, who are 3 times more likely to drawn in the water than white children. Here is a great video of what the Make a Splash initiative is all about:

Don't miss the photos of the historical moment when Cullen and Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, and Jason Lezak obtained the gold medal for the Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay, in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 11, 2008.

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