Gold Medalist Cullen Jones Helps Kids Make A Splash

This article is sponsored by Citi.

The statistics are shocking—drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death among children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And the USA Swimming Foundation found that 75 percent of African-American and 60 percent of Latino children cannot swim. Now that the summer months are upon us, water safety education is again a priority, and USA Swimming Foundations’ Make a Splash initiative and Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones are working together to share some important lessons to communities in need.

“This is the only sport that if you don’t learn how to do it, you could die,” Sue Anderson, USA Swimming Foundations’ programs and services director, told NJ.com in 2011. “It’s a life-saving skill."

USA Swimming Foundation launched Make a Splash in 2007 with the goal of reducing drowning and giving all children the chance to learn how to swim by third grade—regardless of ethnicity or economic status. Make a Splash works with local organizations, parents and schools to spread the message.

The mission is not just anecdotal. According to one study, children who participate in formal swimming lessons between the ages of one and four may reduce their risk of drowning by 88 percent. That’s a lesson Cullen learned the hard way.

You might not expect an Olympic gold medal swimmer to have once almost drowned, but that’s exactly what happened to Cullen during a visit to a Pennsylvania water park when he was 5 years old.  After coming down a slide, Cullen’s inner tube flipped and he was trapped under water. A lifeguard resuscitated the young boy—who asked his parents if he could go down the slide again, he told Complex.com.

“What's so wild is I was fully supervised. Kids drown when people are sitting right there. My dad was right there and he almost watched me drown,” Cullen said in a recent interview with the Gainesville Sun. In fact, a study found that most young children who drowned in pools were last seen inside the home, had been out of sight less than five minutes, and were in the care of one or both parents at the time, according to USA Swimming Foundation’s website.

From near-death to Olympic gold, Cullen learned more than his lesson. He is only the second African-American to win an Olympic gold medal in his sport—which he earned at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as a member of the 4x1000 relay team that dramatically came from behind to beat the favored French team.

As the 28-year-old native New Yorker trained for the London 2012 Olympics team, Cullen galvanized support for Make a Splash, which this year will award $283,000 in local partner grants for which most swim organizations are eligible.

“I've done lessons with white and black kids — there's no kid out there who doesn't like jumping into a pool," Cullen told USA Today in 2008. "When you're 6, you are fearless. That's the time to teach them."

Cullen is now supporting Make a Splash through a unique partnership with Citi. Cullen is one of 13 athletes whom Citi is sponsoring in its Every Step of the Way^SM program. This innovative digital program benefits U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls and athletes of all ages in communities across America by allowing fans to help allocate Citi’s ThankYou® Points to Sport Programs through activity on Facebook and Twitter, thereby giving Team Citi athletes the chance to say "thank you" to the Sport Programs that have inspired them.

Citi, a proud sponsor of Team USA, has launched its Every Step of the Way program with a $500,000 donation to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), represented by 50 million ThankYou® Points - the currency of Citi ThankYouRewards. The unique Every Step of the Way program allows fans to help allocate these ThankYou Points to Sport Programs through activity on Facebook and Twitter. 

The more fans participate through Facebook and Twitter, the more ThankYou Points they can direct to their Sport Program of choice, until its goal is reached. At the end of the program, the USOC will use Citi's donation to give the cash equivalent of the ThankYou Points directly to the Sport Program matched with the Team Citi athlete.

Support Cullen's quest for gold and Make a Splash through the Every Step of the Way Application on Facebook. Follow Cullen on Twitter.