I must have been under a rock for the past 8 years. I mean, how could the ‘most famous’ black swimmer have slipped out from under my consciousness?

If I had watched him swim in the 2000 Olympics, I probably would have blocked it from my memory. It was that much of a train wreck.  In a human interest story kind of way, of course.

He came from Equitorial Guinea, a small African nation.  Eric Moussambani learned to swim in Jaunary 2000, when FINA, swimming’s governing body invited his nation to participate in swimming in the Olympics for the first time ever. He made it to the Olympics without having the minimum requirements by a wildcard draw to encourage countries without expensive  facilities to participate.

Why? I wonder.  Why would FINA set a swimmer up like this?  Sure, he was a crowd favorite, like the little engine that could, and it is impressive that he would finish, considering he’d only been swimming for 8 months, and the pool was bigger than any pool he’d ever seen, let alone swum in.

But to be exposed to the ridicule of the world, and then later lauded as the most famous black swimmer?  His only teammate, Paula Banila Bolopa finished with a similarly slow time, and received her own 15 seconds of fame.

Why couldn’t Equatorial Guinea take a few years to build their swim program?  Why not have given Erik 8 years rather than months to perfect his stroke and times?

I would rather not seeing any black Olympic swimmers than to see unprepared ones. I hope that FINA experiment is over.

I was just looking for information on the French swimmer, Malia Metella.  Unsurprisingly, I found little about her.  But I did find an interesting article written by David Owen in 2005.  What caught my attention was that in addition to  asking Metella about herself and her success as a swimmer (she won silver in the 50 free in Athens 2004), Owen asked her why there were so few black swimmers.

My immediate thought there is, why would she know that?  What does that have to do with her, really?

And then the article forgets her altogether and goes off in search of its answer.  Owen cites studies which point to blacks having denser, heavier skeletons, blah, blah, blah.  Then he finds another researcher who said that skeletons change quickly, and the reason for the dense skeletons may be the lifestyle of the person. So this thing perpetuates–black people generationally don’t swim, and their skeletons are denser because of the stress and work black people generationally do, and so on. In other words, because black people don’t swim, they don’t have ‘swimming skeletons,’ not the other way around.

Then they bring up the socio-economic reasons again, ignoring the one point Malia Metalla did have to make about the issue.  There’s just not a lot of encouragement for black swimmers, because they don’t see a lot of other black swimmers.  That is neither a poverty argument, nor an evolution argument.

It smacks of the truth.

I first heard this name back in 2006.  USA swimming was so serious about raising its minority profile. I didn’t think much of it at the time; certainly didn’t expect it to last.

But now I’m finding just what John Cruzat has brought to swimming in the US.  The former Army   Infantryman  was awarded the Bronze Star for actions in combat Desert Storm. After retirement, he was Vice President of the Urban League of the Pikes Peak region until USA Swimming recruited him.  He is the mind behind the Make a Splash program I talked about yesterday.

What I think is cool is that Cruzat is not just focused on the bottom end of the swimming scale–learn to swim initiatives.  He also created a Diversity Select Meet where children aged 13-18 had to post certain times before they would be accepted. This is from the application for the camp, held this year in March.

Purpose of the Camp: To instill a vision of success and inspire athletes from ethnically under-representedpopulations to become leaders in the sport of swimming. Coming to the Olympic Training Center to train with other selected athletes and meet with other coaches in a great environment is certainly motivational. The Camp also seeks to further empower the athletes and their coaches to achieve performance excellence and assist in recruiting more swimmers and coaches of color to the sport of swimming.

When Cruzat first got on board at USA Swimming, he was very excited and acknowledged that he couldn’t make changes overnight.  It’s been a few years now, and he has made some positive changes in the National Swimming scene.  I can’t wait to see what else he has up his sleeves!

Here are some grim statistics:

Nine people drown every day.

Six out of ten black children can’t swim.  That’s more than twice the number of their white counterparts.

The cycle continues: children from non-swimming households are more than 8 times more likely to be at-risk for drowning than those from swimming households.

Another wrinkle:  Whereas 1/3 white children from non-swimming households go on to learn to swim, the statistic for black children is only 1/10.

USA Swimming has created an initiative to address this problem. The Make a Splash iniative addresses the minority drowning problem by:

1. Educating parents

2. joining with grass roots learn to swim programs

3. funding free or low cost learn to swim programs

When the USA swim teams produces one black Olympic swimmer every 4 years, people cry foul. But here they are doing something way more significant–saving lives.  It’s pragmatic, too.  More black kids learning to swim can translate into more elite swimmers in the long run.

For more information, go to USA swimming.

Ok, so I’m late to weigh in on this matter.  I had heard whispers about it after the fact, but I don’t read or listen to much news, so I haven’t paid any attention to this incident.  But when I looked up another national Black swimmer, I found an article that linked the two.

And this is a mess. So a day camp paid to have swimming as part of its camp.  Check.  Happens everyday.  The kids show up to swim on June 29th and people at the swim club are wondering where all the black kids came from. Next thing they know, the swimming contract is canceled.  Their money was returned.

It sounded racist, especially with what the children reported hearing at the club. The club countered with saying it was a crowded pool issue, and they had canceled two other groups as well.  But when they used phrases like, “it changed the complexion and atmosphere of our club,” it’s hard to see it as anything but racism. Now the club is facing a law suit and a federal investigation, citing a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

I want to talk about turning black drowning statistics around. This problem could be solved if all black children learn to swim. From personal experience, I know that takes time.  It could cost money for swim lessons, but it doesn’t have to. If you have access to a pool, you just spend time in it, working on swimming, and you’ll learn.  I’ve been going to my friend’s pool for the past 9 summers, and I’ve watched all of her young neighbors learn to swim that way. Of all the reasons preventing black children from learning to swim, pool access should be the easiest to overcome.  It was a civil right gained many years ago.

That’s why this Philadelphia incident is so heartbreaking.  This summer program was trying to do its part to get the kids in the water and used to the water, and some of those children could have learned to swim this summer.  But because the regular club patrons didn’t want to swim with black children, that’s not going to happen.

I am glad to hear that Tyler Perry has the resources to erase the sting in those children’s minds, but the issue of time spent in the pool, which does add up to learning to swim, has not been addressed. Perry is quoted as saying that a trip to Disney World is better than the pool. Well, it’s apples and oranges.  Yes, it would be an amazing experience for the children.  But it is not the same as the children learning to swim, and being able to save themselves if they find themselves in deep water.

I don’t blame the day camp for rejecting the club’s later invitation to come back.  They shouldn’t have to put up with that garbage. I just hope they find another pool for their children to learn to swim.

Make no mistake, swimming is not the villain here; the Valley Swim Club in Philadelphia is.

Last year at this time, this blog was downright obsessed with Cullen Jones.  He was my great black hope for the Summer Olympics.  In the end, he brought home a gold medal for the 4×100 meter free relay.  It was a very exciting race, won by eight one-hundredths of a second.

And though I was disappointed that that was the only race that Cullen had qualified for, and he swam the slowest lap of the race, he did contribute to a gold medal victory in Beijing.

What’s he up to these days?

He has an endorsement deal with Nike, for one.  He’s also on the speaking circuit.

But the coolest thing Cullen Jones is about is encouraging other young swimmers.  Especially young black swimmers.  The pool where he once swam as an isolated black swimmer has seen an influx of students since the 2008 Olympics.

Cullen is determined to turn the black drowning statistic around.  A recent USA swimming study found that 58 percent of black children can’t swim. But he is an excellent example of turning that statistic on its ear.  He almost drowned at 5.  Then his mother signed him up for swimming lessons.  He didn’t just quit at learning how to swim.  He took his sport through college, to the Olympics, and now to professional role model.

He is working on a swim documentary that includes his trip to Beijing.  Be on the lookout for more good things from Cullen Jones.