BEIJING - After participating in one of the greatest swimming races in history, Cullen Jones hopes he has only begun to make an unforgettable impact.

Jones, who once starred as a college swimmer at N.C. State, helped set a world record for the United States in the 4x100 relay late Sunday.

On Monday, with a gold medal gleaming from his neck, he talked about his ideas for using that medal and that extraordinary race as a springboard.

"I've got big plans," Jones said.

I watched Jones view the replay of the race on a big-screen TV in China on Monday, and that was cool.

The fact that the American relay team beat the most arrogant Frenchman since Will Ferrell's NASCAR rival in "Talladega Nights" was also cool. France's Alain Bernard, who entered the event with the individual world record in the 100 and finished it with a silver medal and no record, had told reporters before the race: "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for."

Instead, Jason Lezak overtook Bernard in the final five meters, in part by using a technique NASCAR fans would find familiar. The United States smashed the world record by nearly four seconds.

But first, listen to what Jones envisions.

"I've gone to a driving range before and hit golf balls because I saw Tiger Woods doing it on TV," Jones said. "I want more minority kids to go to a swimming pool and try to swim because of me. I know I'm nowhere near Tiger Woods. But I want to make a difference. I want kids to say, 'Look, a black swimmer. And he's got a gold medal!' And I want them to get in the water because of it."

Jones, 24, has the sort of big dreams that you want an Olympian to have -- something more than endorsements or TV appearances. He imagines swim meets, clinics and speeches to youth groups, all under the umbrella of what he would like to call "The Cullen Jones Diversity Tour." Bank of America gave Jones $10,000 of seed money for it Monday.

Jones is already heavily involved with an organization called "Make a Splash," a national child-focused water safety initiative created by the USA Swimming Foundation (www.makeasplash.org). Jones is mostly concerned not that minority children learn to swim fast, but that they learn to swim, period. A recent study sponsored by USA Swimming showed that 58 percent of black children could not swim, compared to 31 percent of white children.

"Let's say two kids are walking beside a pool and one decides it would be funny to push the other one in," Jones said. "If the one who gets pushed in can swim, yeah, maybe it's funny. If he can't? You've got a real problem."

Bright and beaming with personality, Jones has the gregarious nature cameras love.

Since meeting Jones for the first time four months ago, just after he moved to Charlotte, I knew he would be able to command part of the spotlight at the Olympics if he only had the opportunity. Now he does, as the second black U.S. swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal (Anthony Ervin was the first, in 2000).

Jones draws people. When you meet his mother, Debra Jones, you can understand why. She and her late husband spent years ferrying their only child to swim practices.

"It's worth putting the time into your child's passion," Debra Jones said Monday, flashing a smile almost identical to her son's. "Sometimes they don't fit the mold you imagine. Not all kids are going to grow up and be doctors."

That Jones earned his spot on that relay at all is quite a story. He moved to Charlotte in April because he thought he had grown too distracted and comfortable with his workouts in Raleigh. "I needed to pull myself out of everything that I loved and be the new kid on the block," Jones said.

Next page >

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.