Sports

Minorities urged to swim

by Paul Conneally | September 21, 2008 at 08:41 am

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Olympic swimmer and gold medal winner Cullen Jones wants to encourage more youngsters from minority communities to take up the sport. Swimming is a sport that has very few black and other minority ethnic stars. Other sports such as athletics, basketball, and football seem to attract talented sportsmen and women from diverse backgrounds and Cullen Jones wants to make swimming more accessible to all.

This is not just about sport but about saving lives as around 60% of all Hispanic/Latino and black young people cannot swim at all.

When he was 5 years old, Olympic swimmer Cullen Jones nearly drowned at a water park. Now he wants to help children swim and encourage minorities to take up his sport.

Jones, who won a gold medal with the U.S. 400-meter freestyle relay team in Beijing, was honored in his return to his hometown where he launched a nationwide "diversity tour" for swimming.

"There are so many African-Americans and Latin Americans that are afraid of the water, but love to be in the water," Jones said. "And that’s the problem. That’s what this diversity tour is about."

Jones drew an enthusiastic response Saturday from a crowd that included friends, residents, local officials and even Gov. Jon Corzine, who admitted being a little star-struck.

"He has used his life and success to give back to others," Corzine said, adding that it was "pretty neat to have a gold-medal winner here."

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Terri Potratz

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:42 on September 21st, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff. It's great to see professional athletes working to make a positive impact in the lives of youngsters, especially when it comes to a less 'popular' sport like swimming.