I promise I will get up the “A Day in the Life of Me” posts…I have been working on them, but they take forever to type up and we had a busy weekend. But I will get them up asap, because I get more requests for those posts than any other…

But I wanted to quickly share this awesome article about U.S. swim team rising star Cullen Jones.

Jones is not just incredibly talented in the pool, a member of the world-record setting 400 meter freestyle relay team, a favorite to win a gold medal in the Olympics next year and an athlete with a $2 million Nike contract…he is also black.

In many sports, it is now commonplace to see a lot of diversity in the athletes, however swimming is a sport that is still almost completely dominated by whites.

Let’s face it… how many times have you heard the “Black people can’t swim” stereotype? I have heard it in bad jokes, I have heard it from white people, I have heard it from black people (both comedians and people being serious) and I have even heard it from my own two daughters in their early days with our family, (which we have since corrected after a few trips to the lake)

Well, to the statement “Black people can’t swim”, Cullen Jones is saying “Hogwash”. And he is backing it up with his actions.

Cullen Jones is not just enjoying his own success, he is hoping that he can encourage more black children to get involved in swimming and to dispel the myths that swimming is a white person’s sport. He has given talks in schools around the country and is working on a documentary that encourages diversity in competitive swimming.

The article is great, and talks about the support that Jones has received from his mom, his coaches and his all-white U.S. swimming team.

I love stories like this…

Tiger Woods changed the way we picture “golfers”. The Williams sisters changed the way we picture “tennis players”. Now Jones is working to change the way we see “swimmers” and trying to prove wrong the stereotypes and myths that have worked against seeing great black swimmers.

These are the types of role models I love to hear about and learn about for my kids…the kind of people that go out there and DO things, and send the message that the color of your skin does not mean you can’t swim or do whatever, if you try your hardest and do your best.

I know who I’ll be routing for in Beijing next year.