I received an email from Diane Perkins, an acknowledged swim mom, a couple days ago singing the praises of USA swimmer, Cullen Jones.

She said she and about 11 other friends sat glued to the television in anticipation of the men's 4 X 100-meter freestyle relay race.

It was an extremely close and competitive race at Beijing's spectacular Water Cube National Aquatics Center. I had no fingernails left sitting at poolside during the historic swim.

It took a gut-it-out world record performance by the United States men's team to claim the gold medal.

It was an amazing team effort, led by anchor-leg Jason Lezak. He overtook France's Alain Bernard winning by the slimmest of margins - 0.08 seconds. Lezak's leg would have shattered the world record for the 100m freestyle, which Bernard set at 47.50 in March. The U.S. team's time of 3:08.24 pared 3.99 seconds off the world standard.

Olympic superstar Michael Phelps led off the relay, Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones rounded out the American quartet. France took the silver medal with a 3:08.32, while Australia won the bronze with a 3:09.91.

No doubt it was a great victory for record-setting Phelps and USA Swimming, but for the minority swimming communities throughout America Jones' leg was the highlight.

"It was so refreshing to see Cullen standing on the swim block representing African-American swimmers and the USA," Perkins said. "While winning is always welcomed, just seeing him doing his 100 freestyle at the Olympics was awesome. The roar coming from my house you could hear it in Beijing. It was like a Super Bowl party in Detroit.

"I hope all the Black swim clubs around our urban communities saw that and maybe it will motivate them to work even harder to expose our kids to the opportunities out there, especially in swimming."

Cullen Jones

"I hope this effort helps bring more attention to swimming in the Black community," Jones said. "I know there have been very few people like me that have achieved in the sport on a world-wide stage. That's why I'm committed to doing clinics and helping to get the youth to try other sports."

In fact, he has been a very involved part of the USA Swimming's initiative to bring diversity to the sport.

"Since 2003, the USA Swimming Athletes Committee has hosted a diversity clinic in the city where our convention (Aquatic Sports) is taking place." Jones recalled. "We were in Detroit a couple years ago (2006) to raise awareness about swimming within the local community. We had over 100 kids and the clinic was well received. There are people in Detroit that are committed to the sport."

Jones and Correia co-hosted the clinic at Adams/Butzel Recreation Complex in Detroit - one among the many they have hosted throughout the United States.

During the session, Jones and Correia spent part of their time in the water working with the kids to teach them about water safety and awareness. They shared their experiences as minorities in the sport of swimming during a special keynote speech.

The 6-foot-5, Jones, a Bronx native, in a preliminary heat at the United States Olympic trials, established an American record in the 50 freestyle.

He was timed in 21.59, eclipsing Gary Hall Jr.'s eight-year-old record by .17 seconds.

However in both the 50 and 100 freestyle finals Jones, 24, finished third, thus missing an opportunity to swim individual events. Instead of sulking, he put his energy into the relay.

Jones, who started swimming when he was 8-years-old, says he is committed to dispelling the notion that African-Americans cannot excel at swimming.

He knows another four years seems like an eternity right now, but he has dedicated himself to the sport and the effort required to compete at the highest level. In his training regiment he swims 8,000 meters/yards per day, 5-6 hours a day, and 6 days a week.

Since he burst onto the international scene with a 10th-place world ranking in the 50 freestyle in 2005, Jones has promoted water safety in cities to minority youth.

Jones would rather teach minorities to swim than preach about what it takes to make an Olympic team. "I'm not trying to get the next Michael Phelps," he noted. "I'm not trying to get someone to fill my shoes."

He pledged to keep coming to urban cities and sharing his knowledge.

In a sport where African-American are few and far between, Jones says he knows he stands out.

Jones says he studies Tiger Woods for clues on how to be a positive influence. I'd like to try to model how he speaks, how he carries himself," he said. "He's such an ambassador to the African-American community."

The North Carolina State English major is excited about his gold medal and he's dedicated to getting more.

 Former Black Voice News Sports Editor Leland Stein can be heard on WGPR radio (107.5) every Sunday from 11 p.m. to midnight. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it