The 'Telegraph': "Black kids can't swim because black parents can't swim."

Cullen Jones may be our most valuable Olympian. He is the one standing next to Oprah and Michael Phelps. (Photo from Wikipedia.)

From the Telegraph. Scroll to the bottom of the page to read the synopsis:

"...In Friday morning’s Black Men Can’t Swim (Radio 4) Matt Blaize, a non-swimming actor and comedian, attempted to find the true reasons for the dearth of elite black swimmers. He interviewed one, Cullen Jones, an American who, after winning a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last year, is a living affront to the programme’s titular myth. ..."

[...]

"... The pertinent point, Blaize concluded, wasn’t biological; it was cultural. Black parents don’t swim, so black children don’t swim either. ..."

[Link]

Year-after-year I read about horrific drownings while looking for stories for this blog. Sometimes I get so rattled, especially the stories where families lose a child or a child is rendered near brain dead, that I can't think or blog for some minutes.

I am convinced that the ability to swim should be a mandated skill before the first-or second-grade much like vaccinations are mandated when you go to enroll your child in public school.

The United States, or any country for that matter, would be unstoppable in the pool if our less advantaged populations had more aquatic opportunities.

Cullen Jones has broken the American record in the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. national championships.

Cullen Jones ROCKS the 50 -free! I am going to go out on a limb and presume The Valley Swim Club inspired him! From AP:

Jones touched in 21.41 seconds Saturday night, lowering the old mark of 21.47 set by Garrett Weber-Gale at last year's Olympic trials.

He edged Weber-Gale in a swim-off for the second spot in the event at the world championships later this month. Weber-Gale was clocked in 21.70.

[Link]

The photo above comes from the website: Dotell Productions which produced a documentary film called Parting the Waters: the best-kept secret in sports!

From Lane 9 News:

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, July 11. WITH the "Ecstasy of Gold" [From the movie, The Good, the Bad and The Ugly staring Erik Hochstein Clint Eastwood.] playing over the public address system adding to the drama of the western-style showdown, the crowd erupted to the introductions of SwimMAC-Carolina's Cullen Jones and Longhorn's Garrett Weber-Gale as they prepped for the men's 50 free swimoff.

[Link]

From Universal Sports:

"We took a -- not a gamble, but something different. I tried the LZR. I've always felt comfortable in that since last year,'' he said. "Jaked, still, I feel is a really great suit for me. They both fit right, so we're going to see what we can do at worlds. I try not to put too much faith in the suit. I put faith in the work I do.''

[Link]

My take: I am impressed he chose the LZR even though I don't like Speedo. I betcha' he wasn't on the starting blocks thinking, "I want to go to Rome and be a world champion" - I am presuming he was thinking he was going to win for each of those kids denied a chance to swim at The Valley Swim Club due to their race.

I betcha' every single kid denied a chance to swim that day knows who Cullen Jones is now!

I commend USA Swimming and all the people that sent them an email urging them to jump on this.

I am looking at the results of the 100-meter freestyle men's prelim and what a finish that race was!

[Update: It was a prelim race, I thought it was a final.]

Only .06-of-a-second separated the winner in the prelims, Nathan Adrian, from Ryan Lochte and only o.1-of-a-second separated, Lochte, from third place finisher, Matthew Targett.

Wow, it was a very exciting [Prelim] race.

Nathan went out in a 22.86 and came back the the slowest in a 25.24 to finish in a 48.10 but he had enough at the end and out touched, Lochte, who went out in a 23.41 but came back in a 24.75 finishing with a 48.16. Nice pacing, Ryan!

[... deleted]

Prelim Results: [Link]

Tomorrow is the Swim-off between Cullen Jones and [Garrett Weber Gale.]

Zimbio has a great photo gallery of nationals here: [Link]

Cullen Jones has made a video statement regarding "The Valley Swim Club" denying kids of color to swim in their pool!

Olympic swimmer Cullen Jones and USA Swimming Executive Director, Chuck Wielgus comment - Scroll down to see it : [Link]

50-Free drama at Nationals: Cullen Jones and Garrett Weber-Gale tied at 21.55 - Will go head-to-head in a swim-off!

Cullen Jones/Garret Weber-Gale: Here we have two superheroes from that famous Beijing Olympic 4x100 relay swimming to see who gets to go to the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome.

Whoever wins, "it's ciao, baby, see me in Roma at Universal Sports!"

So, who do you root for?

It's like Superman versus Captain America, John Wayne versus Clint Eastwood or Shaft versus Philip Marlowe! Two national heroes who not only did Michael Phelps right in that 4x100 relay but did our country as well.

And then there is Nathan Adrian! From Swimming World:

[Nathan] Adrian claimed the A final heat with a time of 21.52, breaking through the 22 second barrier for the first time as his previous best stood at a 22.00 from prelims. The time moved him into the top 10 all time in the world.

"I just try to swim fast and get to the wall first," Adrian said. "To be honest, I was taking it a step at a time. Now, I am going to try to set goals for Rome at this point."

Meanwhile, SwimMAC Carolina's Cullen Jones and Longhorn's Garrett Weber-Gale tied for second with matching 21.55s. The finish set up a swim-off for the second spot for the World Championships team will occur on Saturday.

[Link]

The article has lots more drama with references to past swim-offs, and great swims by Cesar Cielo, who posted a time faster than both Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Frederick Bousquet, who was out-touched by Great Cesar Cielo.

(I almost spelled Great Ceasar's Ghost)

Fan video of the mens 100-free final at the Charlotte Ultraswim!

It has no sound but great footage of an enthusiastic Bousquet in his red Jaked suit. You could just feel that he knew he was going to win.

Universal Sports coverage of the 2009 Charlotte UltraSwim here: [Link]

Newsweek: 'America's Unemployed Olympic Hero'

Newsweek has an article on Olympic champion and 4x100 superhero, Jason Lezak. From Newsweek:

It was late morning in Beijing on Aug. 11. In the waiting area before the start of the 4-by-100 freestyle relay, Lezak called a huddle with his young teammates, Cullen Jones, Garrett Weber-Gale and Michael Phelps. Lezak told them he had been a part of this relay in 2000 and had come in second. He was a part of this relay in 2004 and got bronze. The message: enough. They nodded and walked out to the pool.

Newsweek: [Link]

The article goes on to discuss monetary compensation that Lezak is asking for and while reading it the name, Evan Morgenstein, appears. He is the sports agent who refuses to do any work with TYR due to a lawsuit TYR filed against one of his clients, Eric Vendt, for switching suit brands while on the TYR payroll.

My reference is this quote from Morgenstein posted at SwimNews.com:

"...TYR Sport is no longer on our list of active apparel companies with whom we will do business with in the future." However Morgenstein's decision to speak out against their treatment of Vendt will not effect their current TYR sponsored swimmers. ..."

[Link]

According to the Newsweek article, Morgenstein's client list includes Brendan Hanson, and Aaron Peirsol, who both may also be in the same boat as Jason Lezak; that is to say: Unemployed.

It makes me think of Peter Marshall, a guy TYR sent off to Berlin, Germany, to participate in the FINA, Swimming World Cup and he consequently set three world records in the backstroke. He also came away away with $75,000. Not bad for a fast weekend: [Link]

I have to wonder if TYR had those three amazing swimmers in their stable how well would they have done if sent off to Berlin? Sure would have made one hell of IM relay.

Lezak has the talent, but does he have the talent management he needs to be employed?

Voting has begun at 'USA Today' for 'The AAU James E. Sullivan Award!'

USA From Wikipedia: "...The AAU James E. Sullivan Award, known as the Oscarof sports awards, is presented annually in April by the United States Amateur Athletic Union to the most outstanding amateur athlete from any sport in the United States. It was first awarded in 1930, making it older than the Heisman Trophy. The award is named for the AAU's founder and past president, James E. Sullivan.

From USA Today:

Men's 4 x100 freestyle relay team, Swimming
The U.S. relay team of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak beat France in the final in a world-record time of 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds. It was the first of Phelps' relay medals in Beijing and his second overall. He would go on to win a record eight gold medals. ..."

[Link]

You can place your vote in the left hand navigation area. I for one voted for the Olympic 4x100 freestyle relay over Dara Torres but I did consider her. :-P

'FOX Sports' - Ian O'connor names Jason Lezak as his "Sportsman of the Year"

Ian O'Connor wrote a very fun article about Jason Lezak overcoming significant odds to defeat Alain Bernard in the final leg of the 4x100 relay to make Lezak his "Sportsman of the Year."

On the morning of Aug. 11 in Beijing, Phelps was the wailing baby, a relay journeyman named Jason Lezak was the distraught mother and a French terminator named Alain Bernard was the 2-ton car.

This is the story of how my Sportsman of the Year got those four wheels off the ground.

[Link]

I am loving those mixed metaphors but Terminators come from "Austria-Kaleefornia" not France.

Two other aspects of the article that were missed: The press keeps playing up the Alain Bernard remark that "...We will smash them," but that statement was severely lost in translation and portrayed the French as little "Gary Halls.'"

If an American 4x100 free relay team said to the swim press, "we will beat them." An American or a Brit would read that as "our team is going to win," They would not read it as "we are going to mug them" or "we are going to inflict repeated blows."

There is no translation for the word "beat" in French that morphs the word into "defeat" like we do in English. They use the word smash which has the exact same meaning. English is a very colorful language with lots of nuance; there were translation issues here that portrayed the French incorrectly .

The second thing that bothered me is that they showed a photo of the 4x100 Medley relay team rather than the 4x100 free relay team thereby excluding Cullen Jones along with Garret Weber-Gale who both contributed significant swims to the victory.

'Flickr' photoset of the 2008 US Olympic Training camp in Singapore!

This photo is titled: 'Dazzling Team Shot' - The girls of the 4x200 relay. What I like about this shot is not what it reveals; (though I like that too), but rather what our athletes wear to workout. Michael Phelps, for instance, seems to be wearing a pair of quasi-plaid briefs whereas Dara Torres prefers a more 'Wonder Woman' look.

Swimmers like Coughlin, Kara Lynn Joyce, Cullen Jones, Brendan Hansen and many others are featured here in richseow's photoset on flickr.com

If you go and look, leave comments for the guy, we need more candid and less staged photography like this.

The 'New York Times': How The USA won the 4 x 100 relay!

AP newswire: Cullen Jones will swim the 4x100 relay final with Michael Phelps!

Also, a Freudian slip on the part of the French?: "... The French believe they can ruin Phelps' hopes of going eight-for-eight in a country where eight is considered a lucky number. They've certainly got reason to be confident, putting up the best time of the year until a backup American squad broke the world record in the preliminaries on Sunday night.

The French also went under the old mark — just 13-hundredths off the U.S. time of 3:12.23 — and that was with Bernard and their other top 100 man, Fabien Gilot, resting up in preparation to join Amaury Leveaux and Frederick Bousquet in the final.

"We want to be the best," Bernard said. "It will be one of the toughest races for Michael to win. [That's the Freudian slip because he all ready is the favorite in their minds.] The world record will be in danger." [Link]

Cullen Jones should swim in the relay final, period!

Watching the profile on Cullen Jones and one of his first experiences in a pool was sinking to the bottom with a pint of water in his lungs. He was unconscious, lifeguards administered CPR, and now he one of the fastest swimmers that ever lived.

Whoa! I bet there is an Olympic gold mine worth of swimmers in the inner city. USA Swimming has got to tap that mine.

WR in the 4x100 relay prelim! Was that epic or what?! - "Give them nothing - take from them everything" --Lionidas in the Movie 300!

New American Record for Cullen Jones as Jones, Wildman Tobriner and Gary Hall swim the 50m prelim in under :22.00

I can't wait to see that prelim-swim. Especially the part when "old man" Gary Hall pulls up to the blocks in his "mobility scooter" then has his two nurses help him remove his red, white and blue, Everlast hospital gown and help him onto the blocks! (I hope he doesn't read this.)

What an epic prelim that will be watch. Here were the times for the top three finishers:

Cullen Jones: 21.59

Ben Wildman Tobriner: 21.68

Gary Hall: 21.89

Lane 9 News: [Link]

Cullen Jones is getting faster - Just go ask Cesar Cielo.

From the Charlotte Observer: "...Former N.C. State star Cullen Jones set a meet record in winning his second event and Kelsey Ditto and South Africa's Troy Prinsloo also became multi-event winners Sunday during the final day of the Charlotte UltraSwim.

Jones, who won a gold medal with the U.S. team in the men's 400-meter freestyle relay at the 2007 World Championships, bettered the meet record in winning the 100 freestyle at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center.

Jones, who won the 50 freestyle Saturday, won Sunday in 49.37 seconds -- bettering the mark of 49.57 set last year by Cesar Cielo. ..."

To Russia with love: WNBA players from the USA will play for the Russians in Beijing!

Should swimmers do the same? I think so because I think the Olympics are about individual accomplishments not national identity.

However, If one thinks that the Olympics are peaceful contest between Nations, then I can understand the point of view that it would be an unpatriotic thing to do. Your opinion may vary: Snippet from the Star Tribune: "... Lynx star Seimone Augustus will play in the Beijing Olympics this August. So will San Antonio's Becky Hammon, whose team plays the Lynx today at Target Center.

But the two WNBA all-stars won't be teammates.

Hammon, a 5-6 point guard for the Silver Stars, will play on the Russian women's basketball team in Beijing.

"I was looking at two doors," said Hammon, a native of Rapid City, S.D. "I could go home to my apartment and watch the Olympics [on TV] or I could take part, which would be so much better. ..." [Link]
Gary Hall, Cullen Jones, Benjamin Tobriner and other sublime contenders could face each other in the final of the 50m free. Only two can go. However, what if Gary Hall, Jason Leezak, Cullen Jones or any of the rest placed third but got an offer from Dubai, or the location of their ethnicity to swim for a different country, how would that hurt the United States or any individual within this country?

As a matter of fact, the European Union is now accepting dual citizenships applications from the United States. Seriously! Here is an article from the Palm Beach Post: [Link]

If you placed third at Olympic trials but logged a time that was exceptionally elite, what would you do and what if a fee was involved by a second country? I myself think it would not only be ethical, but it would prove what a melting the United States is.

That awesome photo of Gary Hall and Cullen Jones taken at the 2007 Charlotte Ultraswim; a photo which makes you wonder what each is thinking, is from Sorrento66's photo stream at Flickr.com. Here is a direct link to the photo: [Link]

Cullen Jones freestyle compared with Michael Phelps

I like Cullen's better.

USA Today: More than half of black and Hispanic kids can't swim

USA Swimming did the study and here is the snippet from the report: "...COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A national, first-of-its kind survey found that approximately six out of 10 African-American children are unable to swim, nearly twice as many as their Caucasian counterparts. Similarly, 56% of Hispanic and Latino children are unable to swim. ..." [Link]

From USA Today: "...The survey found that "children do not buy in to the stereotype that minorities don’t or can’t swim. When asked whether they believed swimming was “just for white people,” over two-thirds of African-American and Hispanic/Latino children aged six to 16 disagreed (68% and 71% respectively), more than 40% of each group disagreed strongly. ..." [Link]

Caption to the photo: (Olympic freestyle swimmer Cullen Jones teaching Tavion Traynham and five other 8-year-olds at a YMCA in Omaha, Neb., in March. Photo by Daniel Johnson via AP.)

What do Cesar Cielo and Cullen Jones have in common? Cullen Jones to train with David Marsh

An anonymous reader pointed that out that: Cesar Cielo's sprint coach at Auburn is Brett Hawke. Confirmed at NCAA.com. David Marsh was the head coach while Cielo swam at Auburn but Marsh has recently left to join the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club as their new director.

I read that Cullen Jones is training now with David Marsh at WCSN.com: "...Cullen's call came as a bit of surprise," Marsh told WCSN.com by phone last week from the short course world championships in England. "But his willingness to make a shift indicates that he understands the urgency and total motivation needed for us to push to make the U.S. team. ..."

Marsh had this to say: "... "He needs to get substantially faster and there are several ways to do it," Marsh said. "First, we have to connect his strength to his swimming strength. There's vertical strength [Jones' has a 35-inch vertical leap] and prone strength and we have to apply the vertical to water. Second - the starts. There's always hundredths of a second to find there. Third - race strategy. And fourth - probably most important, his focus and confidence when he steps on the blocks." ..."

Michael Phelps, Julianne Moore and Anne Leibovitz recreate "The Little Mermaid"

Disney has commissioned renowned photographer Anne Leibovitz to recreate famous Disney moments into a collection of photographs called the "Disney Dream Portrait Series." Such talent as Tina Fey, Jenifer Lopez, Jessica Biel, Gisele Bundchen, Mikail Baryshinikov, Scarlett Johansson, Beyoncé, David Beckham and many, many more have been chosen to pose. In the above photo, Michael Phelps, becomes a "merman" to Julianne Moore's, Ariel

Now, here is the best part: If you look really close, who is that bald guy in the center left, and the Africican guy in the back and that really hot brunette to the left, and what about that guy doing the flip turn? Well, you are looking at : Rowdy Gaines, Cullen Jones, Janet Evans, and Brendan Hansen.

Here is a link to a hi-rez version: [Link]

Here is a link to the press release: [Link]