Cullen Jones

Cullen Jones

Cullen Jones standing between a seated Garrett Weber-Gale and Oprah Winfrey at the taping of the September 8, 2008 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Personal information
Full name	Cullen Jones
Nationality	United States
Born	February 29, 1984 (1984-02-29) (age 27) New York, NY, USA
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	210 lb (95 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Freestyle
Club	SwimMAC Carolina
College team	North Carolina State Wolfpack
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 2007 Melbourne 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2009 Rome 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2007 Melbourne 50 m freestyle World Championships (SC) Silver 2006 Shanghai 50 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Shanghai 4×100 m freestyle Summer Universiade Gold 2005 Izmir 50 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Gold 2006 Victoria 50 m freestyle Gold 2006 Victoria 4×100 m freestyle

Cullen Jones (born February 29, 1984 in New York, New York) is an American freestyle sprint swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.

Early life

Born in the Bronx borough of New York City, Jones moved to Irvington, New Jersey while in elementary school. He learned to swim after he was rescued from a near-drowning at a splash-down pool at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Pennsylvania when he was five years old.^[1][2] He became an age-group swimmer at Metro Express, a club team at the Jewish Community Center in West Orange, NJ under head coach Ed Nessel. Jones later switched teams to the Jersey Gators Swim Club in Cranford.

Swimming career

Jones attended North Carolina State University, where he was an English major with a minor in psychology. He turned professional in the summer of 2006, after signing with Nike^[3] and burst onto the scene shortly after at the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships where he set a meet record in the 50 m freestyle with a time of 21.84. He also swam a leg (split of 47.96) in the world record breaking 4×100 m freestyle relay along with Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale. In 2007, he also won a gold medal in 4×100 m freestyle relay with the same teammates in 2007 World Aquatics Championships

Jones is the second African-American to hold or share a world record (4×100 m freestyle relay) in swimming, after Anthony Ervin.^[4] He is also the third African-American to make the US Olympic swimming team after Anthony Ervin and Maritza Correia. At the 2008 Olympic swimming trials, Jones broke the American record in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 21.59. The record was subsequently broken the next day by Garrett Weber-Gale. In the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, he won a gold medal in the 4×100 m freestyle relay in a world record time of 3:08.24 with Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale.

In July 2009, Jones set the American record in the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. National Championships in Indianapolis, IN.^[5]

He trains with David Marsh at the Center of Excellence at Mecklenburg Aquatic Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Personal bests (long course)

Event	Time	Date
50 m freestyle AR	21.41	July 2009
100 m freestyle	48.31	July 2008

Key: AR = American record

References

1. ^ http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-wildwater-opening-052209-cn,0,1990432.story
2. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/SummerSizzle/story?id=5429503&page=1
3. ^ Swimming World Magazine – Swimming News
4. ^ "What's on TV Thursday night", New York Daily News, July 31, 2008. Accessed August 10, 2008.
5. ^ "Jones sets American record in 50 free", "Associated Press", July 12, 2009.

External links

• Cullen Jones Official Website
• USA Swimming athlete bio: Cullen Jones
• Cullen Jones Official Bio
• 20 Questions with Cullen Jones at USA Swimming
• Parting the Waters – a documentary film about Cullen Jones

Persondata
Name	Jones, Cullen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 29, 1984
Place of birth	New York, NY, USA
Date of death
Place of death