Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones nearly drowned as a child.
“When I was 5, I went to Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom with my parents,” Jones told us. “The one thing that my dad made me promise was to not let go of the inner tube. But when I hit the pool of water my tube flipped upside down. I was under water for like 30 seconds, and had to be resuscitated.”
But, “We did not leave Dorney Park . . . it is expensive so we stayed for the rest of the day. I was not around for it but my mom had some choice words for my dad.”
When Jones’ mom took him for swimming lessons: “It took five different teachers to get comfortable. I started to learn at the YMCA, then [the Newark Swim Team] really cultivated my swimming skills.”
Cullen is the USA Swimming Foundation spokesperson and is in town for the Golden Goggle Awards.