Cullen Jones

Sports Legends of the Carolinas

It’s almost time for the Summer Olympics to take over the sports world, as it does every four years.

The opening ceremonies are July 26th in Paris. And so for the first time in the three seasons of “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” we went poolside to have a a candid conversation with Olympic swimmer and two-time gold medalist Cullen Jones.

Formerly a star college swimmer at N.C. State, Jones previewed the Paris swimming competition, talked about his own experiences in the Olympics and told us his origin story as to how he became one of a handful of African-American swimmers to succeed in the water at the sport’s highest levels.

Jones owns both two gold medals and two silver medals from the Olympics, where he competed for Team USA in 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London. He also said the most important lessons from his athletic career came not during his record-setting wins, but from his losses. "Losing is great," he said at one point.

Now 40 years old, Jones lives in Charlotte with his wife and their five-year-old son. Our interview came at Life Time’s fitness center in Charlotte, and that excellent facility also let us borrow one of its several pools for our photo session.

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