Former NCSU star swimmer, Cullen Jones, took one breath and broke the American Record in the 50m freestyle this morning with a rocking 21.59 seconds! Moemnts ago he placed 2nd in the semis. Tomorrow night he will swim the finals and if he can place in the top two, he'll be swimming the event in Beijing in August.
What's more impressive about Cullen is his overwhelming drive to make a difference. In fact, the overwhelming reason he chose to swim in the first place is as a result of a traumatic accident he experienced as a 5 year old. Cullen was spending a day at a Pennsylvania waterpark when he nearly drowned after his inner-tube flipped and he became trapped underneath.
Cullen is now a very strong advocate for kids learning to swim - he is especially focused on motivating black american children. It has been estimated that black children have a drowning rate of nearly 3 times that of white children. No doubt his presence in Beijing will allow him to reach more chidren and save more lives.
Cullen Jones: Then (20 Questions Tuesday Archive on USASwimming.org) This is a question/answer interview Cullen did several years back - It's very interesting from a now vs. then perspective.
Jones, Hoff, Phelps, Crocker and other July 4th US Olympic Trials Swimming Highlights
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