Sink or Swim: Everyday Americans Trying to Learn This Olympic Sport

As the U.S. swim team continues to bring home Olympic medals, The Takeaway has been looking at the more realistic side of swimming in America. Dr. Carol Irwin conducted a study that found 70 percent of African American children are unable to swim. And we’ve been hearing your stories of the challenge of learning to swim. Larry Fisher from Brooklyn, New York, writes, "When I was five years old my father asked me,"Can you swim yet?" In the middle of saying "No," my father picked me up and threw me into a lake. I don't know exactly how I survived but I practiced swimming every day after that for the rest of the summer and all summers after that. My idea to this day when I get in a pool is to do laps and to teach my seven year old daughter and five year old son a kinder way to love being in the water." Ginger Blue Dean from Afton, Oklahoma, also told her learning to swim story. Dean said, "My father told me a story about how he learned to swim. He and his brothers built a raft and set it afloat in a pond in South Carolina. When they were in the middle of the pond, too deep for him to touch, his brothers all jumped in the water, yelling "water-mocasin, water-mocasin," and set out for the shore. My dad, fearing a snake bite, jumped in and swam after his brothers. It was the first time his feet had left the bottom." As Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte continue to glide through the Olympic lanes, Americans jump into lakes and pools from the East Coast to the West, hoping to learn the sport of swimming for entertainment and safety's sake.