This article was originally published as a Talk of the Town column in The Dundalk Eagle on July 31, 2008. I reprint it here in anticipation of the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, which kick off tonight with the Opening Ceremony.
Jessica Long continues to add to record books and her personal scrapbooks as she counts down the days to the International Paralympic Games that kickoff in September in Beijing.
Major media outlets, of course, are all over Towson’s Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff, who between them could bring home as many as 14 Olympic medals.
But lost in the shuffle are Paralympians at large, and here, Long specifically.
Long, 16, is the Michael Phelps of Paralympic swimming. She routinely wins seven, eight and nine races at every meet she enters and long ago lost track of the number of medals she owns.
Just over the weekend of July 13-15 at the Can-Am tournament, she set a new world record in her first dip in the pool — much like Phelps setting a new world record in his first Olympic Trials race in late June.
The girl who started her competitive swim career as a member of the Dundalk-Eastfield Rec Council team could hardly have envisioned what was ahead for her that first day when she jumped in her grandmother’s backyard swimming pool and discovered a second home.
She’s been around the world, met celebrities and made lifelong friends and has some pretty amazing photographs and memories to share with her grandchildren.
It would seem difficult to top 2007, when Long in April became the first Paralympian to win the James E. Sullivan Award, given annually to the nation’s top amateur athlete. Later in the year, she was named ESPN’s top female athlete with a disability, and along the way she won every race she won.
Bit it appears 2008 has not been any kind of a letdown.
Her success in the pool continues , and the recognition and lifetime moments outside of the pool continue to pile up as well.
On July 21, Long was one of 22 athletes invited to a reception and official send-off of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams at the White House. President Bush hosted the gathering in the Rose Garden, and then each athlete posed for individual pictures with Bush in the Oval Office.
Pretty heady stuff for a teenager!
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| President George Bush posed with Jessica Long on July 21, 2008 in the Oval Office at the White House. Jessica was one of the athletes selected to represent the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics teams at the visit with Bush. White House photo Eric Draper |
In May, the double below-the-knee amputee was the recipient of the Juan Antonio Samaranch Award, named for the former president of the International Olympic Committee.
The Samaranch IOC President’s Award has been presented annually since 1990 to an athlete, past or present, who in the face of adversity displays courage, desire and athletic ability to achieve goals in the competitive arena.
Long received the award during a ceremony at the 2008 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England, on May 10.
At the Can-Am Paralympic swim championships in Victoria, British Columbia, in July, the American swim team set 36 American, 18 Pan-American and five world records. Women set all five world records. including Long’s new record in the S8 100-meter butterfly. Her performance in that event earned her Swim of the Meet recognition, and she also claimed Swim of the Day honors on both Friday (100-meter butterfly) and Saturday (200-meter individual medley).
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| President George Bush met with members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams in a July 2008 visit to the White House. White House photo by Shealah Craighead. |
U.S. team head coach Julie O’Neill said in a statement that she’s pleased with the team’s performance following its final tune-up prior to China.
“Overall the team looks fantastic,” she said. “Most of them are in the middle of a hard training cycle right now and despite that there are still many lifetime best swims, new records and great races. All of the coaching staff is very pleased with how the team looks heading into Beijing.”
Paralympic swim competition will be held Sept. 6-17 in the same venue as Olympic swimming in Beijing.
Keep an eye on Long, who’s sure to make multiple appearances on the medal stand.
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