Jessica Long: Paralympian

Jessica Long, Rio, 2016.Wikimedia Commons

Russian American swimmer Jessica Long was born in Bratsk, Russia, on the 29^th of February 1992 to teenaged parents. Long spent the first year of her life in foster care, before being adopted and moving to Baltimore, U.S. at thirteen months old.[1] Only five months later, Long was had an operation to remove her lower legs, because of fibular hemimelia.[2] Fibular hemimelia is a condition in which the fibula, or calf bone, is either much shorter than the tibia (shinbone) or missing completely. In the most severe forms, fibular hemimelia can leave the person with limited levels of both motion and stability, due to the missing bones in the lower legs and feet. In such cases, amputations are usually performed so that prosthetics may be worn, enabling the person to walk.[3]

This is exactly how Jessica Long learned to walk. Despite her operation, Long was showed an interest in many physical activities in her youth such as running, cycling, climbing, ice skating, cheerleading, and gymnastics.[4] Her passion, though, was always swimming. After joining her first competitive swim team aged only ten years old, Long’s first international competition was the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece; she was the youngest on the U.S. paralympic team at just twelve years old.[5] Here, she won three gold medals.

So far in her twenty-year long career she has won almost thirty medals at five Paralympic Games, half of which are gold. They are for a range of different strokes, though most of her gold medals have been for freestyle and breaststroke races of various distances. She is currently the second most decorated U.S. Paralympic athlete of all time.[6] Long’s list of accolades, however, goes far beyond achievements at the Paralympics. She has competed in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships eight times between 2006 and 2023, a period across which she has accumulated fifty-four medals. Thirty-seven are gold.

Long has also been recognized by numerous organizations and received awards separate from those given for placing in specific races. The U.S. Olympic Committee named Long the Paralympian of the Year in 2006 and the U.S. Paralympic Sportswoman of the Year in 2012. Swimming World Magazine named her their Disabled Swimmer of the Year in both 2006 and 2011. She has received ESPN’s Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award three times, the first in 2007, the second on 2012, and then again in 2013.[7]

Jessica Long has overcome much adversity throughout her life. More than that though, she argues that that same adversity has contributed to her long list of accolades. On her Team U.S.A. profile, the following quote of Long’s is featured:

“I choose to look at my life in a positive way. If I wasn’t missing my legs, I may not have found swimming.”[8]

Long’s determination to pursue her passion despite her disability should serve as an inspiration to people across the globe. She is a truly amazing sporting hero!

[1] The Siberian parents who gave up Jessica Long as a new-born baby salute her heroic achievement. [Online] Available https://siberiantimes.com/sport/profile/features/the-siberian-parents-who-gave-up-jessica-long-as-a-new-born-baby-salute-her-heroic-achievement/.2012.

[2] Medal Quest: JESSICA LONG. [Online] Available https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/medal-quest/athletes/detail/jessica-long/.2024.

[3] Fibular hemimelia. [Online] Available https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibular_hemimelia.2024.

[4] Jessica Long. [Online] Available https://www.teamusa.com/profiles/jessica-long-916440.2024.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Jessica Long. [Online] Available https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Long.2024.

[8] Jessica Long. [Online] Available https://www.teamusa.com/profiles/jessica-long-916440.2024.