Olympic Games
Gold 2008 Beijing - 4 x 100 m freestyle relay
Cullen Jones Detailed Biography -
Born in the Bronx, Jones moved to Irvington, New Jersey while in elementary school. He attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey, where he first started gaining recognition for his swimming.[3]
He trains with David Marsh at the Center of Excellence at Mecklenburg Aquatic Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He burst onto the international swimming scene at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships[4] in Victoria, British Columbia. He was a student athlete at North Carolina State University, where he was an English major with a minor in Psychology. In the summer of 2006, he became a professional swimmer after signing with Nike.[5]
At the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships he set a meet record in the 50m Freestyle with a time of 21.84. He also swam a leg (split of 47.96) in the world record breaking 4x100 m Freestyle Relay along with Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Neil Walker. He also got a gold medal in 4x100 m Freestyle Relay with the same teammates in 2007 World Aquatics Championships
Jones is the first African-American to hold or share a world record (4x100 Freestyle Relay) in swimming.[6] He is also the second African-American to make the US Olympic swimming team after Anthony Ervin. 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 4x100m freestyle relay in a world record time of 3:08.24 with Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale.
