Cullen Jones hasn’t swum a high-profile race in four years, but he insists he is not retired. There is too much work to be done.
The Olympic gold medalist is still putting in the work in the sport he loves. It’s just a different kind of work.
Jones, who won Olympic medals in 2008 and 2012, is a national spokesperson for the USA Swimming Foundation and Phillips 66, which started the Saving Lives is Always in Season campaign, and a driving force in the USA Swimming’s Black Coalition, promoting diversity and equality within the sport.
“I never said retire because of this work,” Cullen Jones said. “I don’t think I can retire when I see the drowning rates. I knew I would hang up the goggles and cap at some point. But at the same time, I am watching the ISL and wanting to race — but then I get up off the couch and my hip cracks.”
Jones has been involved with Make a Splash tour put on by the USA Swimming Foundation, and the Saving Lives is Always in Season campaign is an extension of that. He said the COVID-19 pandemic has made getting in the water more difficult, which only makes water safety more of an issue.
“This is time sensitive. We can’t be tone deaf to what is going on right now,” Jones said. “I know we needed to shut down because of the pandemic. I worked for a hospital last year and it was a baptism by fire after COVID hit. Just trying to help people when we were caught off guard and not prepared. Then pools started to close down and people weren’t giving swimming lessons. It teaches life lessons, and is a life skill that everyone needs to learn. We felt like this year, the new motto of Saving Lives is Always in Season. Pools closing does not change the fact that kids need this.”
It is an issue that Jones has always been passionate about. But as a father, it has taken on another level.
“It has enhanced my view being a parent,” he said. “A lot of my friends have pools in their backyards. My son is able to get near water. When he was six months old, the only way we were able to get him to calm down when he was crying was hearing running water. He loves water. He got the itch from me.
“As a parent who understands that, it is vital for me to get him swim lessons. That has enhanced my view. My son will get near water and my friends’ kids will do the same thing. I want my son to be safe near the water. Of course, I will be watching him. But it is important for him to be safe.”
Jones is active in trying to keep everyone safe out of the water, especially with racial tensions heightened in 2020 after several high-profile, police-involved shootings of Black people.
Jones had his own run-in with police that has heightened his already-strong awareness to racial relations in the United States.
“One of the things that I can say after the incident with George Floyd, I was walking my dog at 10 p.m. and a police officer came up to me and basically profiled me,” Cullen Jones said. “I had a French bulldog, which is expensive, and near my expensive car. He drove by and whipped around and asked if everything was OK a couple of times. That is when I realized that I can’t be quiet anymore. I used to say things that were very corporate. After that incident outside my house, understanding if I was angry and handled it poorly with this officer with a gun (and they also handled it poorly), there was a chance my son wouldn’t have a father.
“I needed to do something. I wanted to drive this through change.”
Jones teamed with other Black swimmers and with USA Swimming to form the Black Leadership in Aquatics Coalition (BLAC).
“I started talking with Lia Neal and some of the other Black swimmers,” he said. “We talked with USA Swimming. They said publicly that they support black athletes. We needed to be on the same page and try to make some change. The coalition was formed. My governing body having a sounding board in our sport and have a governing body that actually listened. I am thankful for this next generation to have an intimate relationship with their sport’s governing body. It happens in other sports. It was a breath of fresh air.”
That fresh air has continued as the group has evolved.
“This Black Coalition and new leadership team is showing there is already change,” he said. “We talked about having diversity training. It is going in the right direction. It is going to take that kind of communication between the athletes and the governing body. Those groups working together is where the future is going — and the future looks bright.”
In the pool and out of the water, Cullen Jones wants to help usher in change in the sport of swimming for generations to come.
“My focus is for the next generation. How can we make things easier for that 5-year-old that could choose swimming over basketball,” Jones said. “I want to see a world where kids have a hard time deciding because of the sport’s representation. That is why I haven’t retired.”