Former Olympic swimming gold medalist Cullen Jones is one of the most famous swimmers in USA history, specializing in free style sprint event. As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the four by 100 meter free style relay and at the 2012 summer Olympics, he won silver medals in the four by 100 meter free style relay and the 50 meter free style as well as gold in the four by 100 meter medley.
Jones who grew up in New Jersey is urging parents to get their children swim lessons.
He spent almost his entire childhood in Irvington and graduated from St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark but early on in his childhood, Jones got quite the scare. He nearly drowned at the age of five on an amusement park ride at Dorney Park.
“I am jumping up and down trying to touch the bottom to try and get up but the inner tube was in the way and I just couldn’t lift it. I ended up being under water for a little over 30 seconds. They say a child could have brain damage being underwater that long. I had to be fully resuscitated thank you to the Dorney Park lifeguards.”
After that his parents were determined to get him swim lessons. Jones went to the Y in East Orange. From there he started to swim competitively and got really good.
“Growing up in Jersey, the biggest meet that I was really focused on was junior Olympics at the time. That was the big meet for me. Every year I saw myself at Rutgers and racing against everybody in the state.”
Jones went on to become a four time Olympic medalist and became the first African American to hold a world swimming record in the 2008 games in Bejing. From there, inspired by his near drowning, Jones became and still is a huge advocate for water safety.
“There’s progress but at the same time, it’s still at an epidemic level as 10 people drowning every day.”
According to the CDC, drowning is the number one cause of death for children ages one to four and the number two cause for children ages five to 14. Drowning deaths among black people are higher than other races.
“I don’t want to make it specifically to Black Americans, there’s still 38 percent of Caucasians that don’t know how to swim, there is 54 percent of Latin Americans that don’t know how to swim. This is a problem across the board. We need to make sure that we are teaching our kids to be safer around the water. Don’t send them to the Jersey shore without having formal swim lessons. It’s getting hot now. People are going to start going to the beaches. They are going to start going to the pools. We need to make sure we are equipping our children with the right information. You wouldn’t allow your child to play football without pads or sit in a car without a safety belt, but you are going to send them to the shore without swim lessons? Come on. We need to make sure that we understand the importance of learning to swim.”
Jones remains an ambassador for the “Make A Splash” initiative, a program through USA Swimming that focuses on water safety. He’s traveled the country, giving swim lessons and talks in numerous locations.
Meanwhile, in New York City, there’s efforts underway to provide more swimming lessons and access to pools to minority communities. Councilwoman Selvena Brooks Powers points out there’s 18 council districts, most of which are in historically underserved outer borough communities that lack a Parks Department operated pool.
“Members of these communities are deprived of the opportunity to learn to swim and to swim safely. One out of every three black students cannot swim while about one of 10 white students cannot. The absence of swimming programming is particularly problematic in my district in the rockaways. We are surrounded by water, the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay. Each year we lose community members off the shores of the peninsula. In 2019 for example, at least seven people drowned, all young people of color. Kids cannot learn to swim without access to pools and programing. Reassuringly, the mayor and the speaker are both committed to fixing this problem.”
The Council is considering legislation that would require the department to provide free swimming lessons to all children 13 and younger. The Park’s Department’s Deputy Commissioner for Public Programs Margaret Nelson admits this may be a tough task.
“We work in our learn to swim program at least three days a week in all of our recreation centers. We are providing free swim classes to children but again we recognize there is a greater need in the city. Your legislation talks about every child under 13 which is probably over one million children. We don’t have the capacity to serve that.”
The City Council is also considering legislation that would require the Parks Department to conduct a survey of sites owned by the city to see where additional public swimming pools can be built with a focus on what the legislation calls “Environmental Justice Communities.”
NOTE: Scott Pringle's report is part of the WBGO Diversity, Equity, Inclusion feature series made possible in part by a grant from The Fund for Jersey