Jessica Long

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Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007)

Jessica Long (born February 29, 1992 in Irkutsk, Russia) was adopted by an American couple from Baltimore, Maryland at the age of 13 months. Because of lower leg anomalies, her legs were amputated when she was 18 months old.

Jessica Long was involved in many sports including gymnastics, basketball, cheerleading, ice skating, biking, trampoline, sking, and swimming. She began swimming in her grandparents’ pool before joining her first competitive team in 2002. The next year, Long was selected as Maryland Swimming’s 2003 Female Swimmer with a Disability of the Year.

Long burst onto the international stage at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, winning three gold medals in swimming. Only 12 years old at the time, Long was the youngest athlete on the U.S. Paralympic Team.

In 2006, Long won nine gold medals and set five world records at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships in Durban, South Africa. Overall, she had 18 world record-breaking performances in 2006 and is the current world record holder in 14 events (one as part of a relay). She was honored as the U.S. Olympic Committee's 2006 Paralympian of the year and Swimming World Magazine's 2006 Disabled Swimmer of the Year. She became the first Paralympic athlete to win the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented to the USA’s best amateur athlete.

Major Achievements:

  • 2007: Selected as USA Swimming's Disability Swimmer of the Year (Trischa L. Zorn Award)
  • 2007: Recipient of the ESPN Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award
  • 2007: Three world records (50 m fly, 200 m free, 1500 m free) - GTAC Disability Open, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan
  • 2007: Three world records (200 m back, 400 m IM, 800 m free) - Spring Can-Am Swimming Championships, Montreal, Canada
  • 2007: Named winner of 77th AAU James E. Sullivan Award
  • 2006: 2nd Place Rock Climbing Speed Climbing - Extremity Games
  • 2006: Named U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympian of the Year
  • 2006: Named Disabled Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine
  • 2006: Selected as USA Swimming's Disability Swimmer of the Year (Trischa L. Zorn Award)
  • 2006: Nine gold medals (100 m free - WR, 100 m fly - WR, 200 m IM - WR, 400 m free - WR, 34-pt. 4x100 m free relay - WR, 50 m free, 100 m back, 100 m breast, 34-pt. 4x100 medley relay) - International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships, Durban, South Africa
  • 2006: Two world records (100 m fly, 200 m IM) - Belgian Open, Antwerp, Belgium
  • 2006: Five gold medals, silver medal, four world records (50 m breast, 50 m fly, 200 m breast, 400 m IM) - Can-Am Championships, London, Ontario, Canada
  • 2006: U.S. Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Month - January 2006
  • 2006: Two world records (100 m fly, 200 m IM) - Blaze Sports Georgia Open, Atlanta, Ga.
  • 2005: Five gold medals, bronze medal, two world records - 2005 U.S. Paralympics Open Swimming Championships, Minneapolis, Minn. **Named Swimmer of the Meet
  • 2004: Three gold medals - Paralympic Games, Athens, Greece

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