Cullen Jones is on a mission to change the perception that black people cannot become world-class swimmers.

As a two-times Olympic gold medal-winner in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay, Jones’s achievements in the sport have already gone some way to dispelling that misconception.

It is a stereotype that still exists, however, with the United States athlete hoping his exploits in the pool can inspire the next generation of black swimmers to follow the trail he has blazed.

“I find myself very humbled when I hear children say, ‘I look up to you’, or hear people from other countries say, ‘I want to come and train with you’,” said Jones, the first African-American swimmer to have a world record as part of the 4x100 free relay team at Beijing 2008.

“It’s a blessing, it’s very humbling, and I don’t take it for granted. I love that people see me as a role model and I think the biggest thing for me is the decisions I make — I’m quite strict with myself.

“This is not something I sought after, I just wanted to win and I kind of fell into all of this. It’s safe to say I didn’t start doing this for fame or glory, or anything like that. I just loved swimming and wanted to beat the guy next to me.”

Jones, who spent the past nine days in Bermuda training at the Aquatics Centre with his SwimMAC Carolina team-mates, has more reason than most to consider swimming a life skill every child should learn.

He almost drowned at a theme park in Pennsylvania at the age of five, with his mother taking him to swimming lessons shortly after the incident.

It seemed only fitting that soon after winning his first Olympic gold, Jones was approached about becoming a spokesperson for the “Make a Splash” initiative — a foundation launched by USA Swimming to highlight the importance of learning to swim, especially aimed at ethnic minorities.

In the US, the commonly held belief is that swimming is an elitist or white sport. Jones is doing his bit to change that both inside and outside of the pool.

“When it comes to African-Americans there’s still a stigma that black people don’t swim,” said Jones, who attended the North Carolina State University. “That’s something I’ve been working on with the ‘Make a Splash’ initiative and trying to get kids to be safer around the water.

“We started in 2009 right after my first gold medal and we’ve reached more than 3½ million kids. I’m trying to do my part and spread awareness and I think the biggest problem is exposure.

“Here in Bermuda you’re surrounded by water so it’s a no-brainer for the kids. They’re already exposed to water whereas in the US that’s not the case.

“We’re trying to change that perception for black families and black kids and show that swimming is a life skill. You learn to walk, you learn to eat and you learn to swim.”

Jones, who hails from the Bronx, hopes to go one better than the silver he won in the 50 free at London 2012 — where he also repeated gold in the 4x100 free relay — at this summer’s Olympics in Rio.

After a disappointing performance at last summer’s Pan Am Games in Toronto, where he finished fifth in the 50 free final in 22.23sec, Jones feels he is back on course for another successful Olympics.

“I’ve had some ups and downs over the last year and a half and didn’t swim the way I wanted at the Pan Ams,” said Jones, a SwimMAC Carolina team-mate of Bermuda’s two-times Olympian Roy-Allan Burch.

“But right now I feel awesome, I’m lifting more weights than I’ve ever done and swimming faster in training.

“I know Florent Manaudou [of France] has been very dominant and Nathan Adrian [of the US], who is a very good friend of mine, has been very consistent.

“These are very fast guys and I’ve been watching on tape some of things that I do wrong and some of the things that they do great.”

At 32, Jones is aware that Rio could be his final Olympics, although he has refused to rule out making a bid to reach Toyko 2020.

“I feel in the US we’re still forging what the age medium is when people step away from the sport,” Jones added.

“In the 50 free I’ve seen Gary Hall Jr go until he was about 36 and Jason Lezal do the same. If I still feel that fire in me to do that and David Marsh [the director of coaching of SwimMAC Carolina] is willing to coach me, I may still be doing it.”

During their training stint on the island, Jones and his SwimMAC Carolina team-mates were put through their paces by members of Oracle Team USA and had the opportunity to experience the thrill of racing in their AC45 foiling catamaran.

“It was such a cool experience,” Jones said. “Training with other top athletes is always fun. They pushed me in a different way and I’d never done the workout they did on sand and running in the ocean. We also got to ride on the boat which was pretty wicked, travelling at 40 knots.”

Making waves is nothing new for Jones, who appears to be in the fast lane to making a splash of his own at this summer’s Rio Olympics.