Olympic Gold Medalist Address Parents

Two Olympic Gold Medalist are making a splash about water safety around the country.

Rowdy Gaines and Cullen Jones visited Ponca City tonight for the Make-A-Splash tour.

The had an open forum with parents about the importance of children learning to swim.

Gaines said he started this initiative five years ago.

“When I see these drownings it really opened my eyes to where I thought the foundation could help," Gaines said. "There is a lot great organizations that help with drowning awareness, but I feel we are sort of that umbrella organization and we are helping others get that message out.”

Gaines said a child can drown in 90 seconds with only one inch of water.

Jones is Gaines partner with Make-A-Splash and also the poster child of the initiative.

“In the U.S. 10 people drown everyday and 70 percent of African Americans don’t know how to swim.”

Jones is personally passionate about the message because he almost drown when he was 5 years old and is an African American.

He said it was important to speak to the citizens of Kay county because of Lake Ponca.

Both swimmers said water safety is important because it’s the second accidental leading cause of death.

Ponca City was their second stop on this years tour and they plan to visit eight more towns this year.