2 Olympic Swimmers Who Drowned As Kids Share Their Scary Stories

They learned to swim the hard way, after nearly fatally drowning as kids, and now Olympic medal winning swimming champions Cullen Jones and Jessica Hardy (not pictured) are working to make sure no other children experience close calls like they did. (Photo: Cullen Jones/Facebook).

Nearly 20 years before Cullen Jones won his first gold medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay — with teammates including Michael Phelps in the 2008 Bejing Olympics — the New Jersey-bred athlete drowned at a water park in Pennsylvania at age 5. (In an effort to standardize reports on drowning, medical professionals now define any respiratory impairment from submersion in water as drowning — on a spectrum from mild to fatal, similar to the different degrees of heart attack severity).

“I flipped upside down when lifeguards weren’t looking my way and my parents turned their heads for a split second,” Jones tells Yahoo Parenting of his terrifying plunge into a pool before he knew how to swim. “They pulled me out and I had to be resuscitated.”

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The same thing happened to fellow Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy, when she was just 3 years old. “I was at a family friend’s birthday party with my mom and dad and I fell into the pool,” the Orange, Calif. native, 28, tells Yahoo Parenting. “I didn’t know how to swim and it was a very scary experience.”

(Photo: Jessica Hardy/Facebook)

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Hardy as a child (Photo: USA Swimming Foundation). 

And unfortunately it’s also a very real threat, as the second leading cause of death for children under the age of 14, claiming an estimated 3,500 people annually, according to the USA Swimming Foundation. “It could have ended my life,” Hardy reflects of her accident, “but a friend jumped in to save me. The next day my mom put me into swim lessons.”

Jones’ parents had a similar response to his near death. Though neither of them knew how to swim, the 31-year-old says that his mom and dad enrolled him in lessons because he was such a rambunctious kid “they knew I was going to get into the water again.”

But unlike Hardy — an Olympic medalist at the 2012 London games for the 4x100-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter medley relay — who has only vague memory of her near deadly dip, Jones’ memory of the experience stayed with him. “I had quite a bit of fear getting back into the water,” he says. “And that continued through different coaches and teachers for about three years. But with some diligent parents, I stuck with it.” And after his first swim meet at age 8, he was hooked on the sport.

Cullen at an early meet. (Photo: USA Swimming Federation).

Learning to swim can be nerve wracking for anyone, accident or not, notes Hardy. “There’s a huge fear people have, not just getting into a pool or ocean but just putting their head underwater.” That’s why she says exposing kids to safe water play through swim lessons takes time — but is well worth the effort.

Hardy learning to swim as a child (Photo: USA Swimming Federation).

“Seeing a child get into water for the first time and not panic, and have fun, is life changing,” says Hardy, who now works with Cullen and others to promote the USA Swimming Federation’s “Make a Splash” initiative that partners with organizations nationwide to provide swim lessons and educate kids and their parents on why learning to swim is so important.

The sport is, after all, less fun and games than “a life skill,” adds Cullen. “Your risk of drowning drops by 88 percent if you learn how to swim,” he marvels, adding that kids can’t start too young. “If child can crawl and get near water, they need to get acclimated,” he says. “We have the solution to drowning.” Now it’s up to parents to use it. Take it from two who know.

For resources on learning to swim, visit the USA Swimming Foundation.

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