VIDEO: I’m a Paralympic Swimmer | My Life ★ Glam.com * 2023
VIDEO: I’m a Paralympic Swimmer | My Life ★ Glam.com * 2023

About Jessica Long

Long was born in 1992 like Tatiana Olegovna Kirillova in Bratsk, Russia. At the time she was born, her mother and father were unwed teenagers, 17 and 18 years old respectively. She was abandoned by her mother in a foster care and was later adopted by American parents at the age of 13 months. Because of fibular hemimelia, her lower legs were amputated when she was 18 months old. 

Jessica learned to walk with prostheses. She has been involved in many sports including gymnastics, cheerleading, ice skating, biking, trampoline, and rock climbing. 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 trained with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. 

Jessica’s life has been nothing short of amazing. She was able to persevere and become a 29x Paralympic medallist, world champion and record holder. Now as one of America’s most decorated champions and winningest female athletes in US history, her work focuses on succeeding in the water and inspiring others outside the pool.

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She has been doing things her own way since birth

Jessica has learned to grow and thrive as a champion and person in and outside the pool, and her message of hope resonates with all walks of life. Jessica regularly provides inspiration, unique perspectives and insights to corporate leaders, sports teams, and faith-based organizations on topics such as women’s leadership, disability in the workplace, mindset: resiliency, growth, and turning pain into power.

A special NBC broadcast in 2014, Long Way Home, followed Long’s journey to meet her biological parents. The story of her adoption was portrayed in a Toyota ad, titled Upstream, which ran as a Super Bowl commercial in 2021 and during the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics.

Jessica is proud to work with amazing brands across a wide variety of industries and serves as a voice for companies in their marketing campaigns on some of the biggest stages in the world, including at the Paralympic Games and during other major sporting events such as the Super Bowl.

International swimming career

Jessica Long entered the international stage at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, winning three gold medals in swimming. Aged twelve at the time, she was the youngest competitor on the U.S. Paralympic Team. One of her gold medals was the 100-meter freestyle, which she swam just 0.19 seconds ahead of Paralympic-record-holder and world-record-holder Israeli Keren Leibovitch.

She had 18 world record-breaking performances in 2006. Her performance at the 2006 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships in Durban, South Africa, where she won nine gold medals for her participation in seven individual medleys and two relays. She also held five world records, which made her known from outside the world of Paralympic sport. In 2006, Long became the first Paralympic athlete selected as the AAU’s James E. Sullivan Award winner. 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.

In June 2021 the US announced the 34 Paralympic swimmers who would be going to the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo. Long was named as the lead for the women’s team of McKenzie Coan, Elizabeth Marks, Rebecca Meyers and Mallory Weggemann.

On April 14, 2022, Long was named to the roster to represent the United States at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships.

Jessica Long, with double amputation, is a paraswimming medallist * Todo lo relacionado