Jessica Long - The Orphan
SWIMMING - PARALYMPIAN
ARCHETYPE: THE ORPHAN
Day 33/135
Athletic Accomplishments
Jessica Long is the most dominant Paralympic swimmer in history. Since 2004, at just 12 years old, she has been breaking records, winning medals, and dominating in the pool. What events? You name it, she swims it and wins it:
50m Free, 100m Free, 400m Free, 100m Back, 100m Breast, 100m Fly, 200m IM.
In the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, she was the youngest competitor on the U.S. Paralympic Team, but that didn’t stop her from winning three gold medals in swimming.
In 2006, she had arguably an even bigger year, including 18 world record-breaking performances and collecting 9 gold medals at the IPC Swimming World Championships. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Olympic Committee named her Paralympian of the Year and Swimming World Magazine named her Disabled Swimmer of the Year.
Long has continued to win in and outside the pool, with a laundry list of accomplishments too long to include in full. So, I’ll just select some highlights:
3x winner Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award (2007, 2012, 2013)
3x winner USA Swimming's Disability Swimmer of the Year (2006, 2007, 2015)
2012 winner of U.S. Paralympic SportsWoman of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee
23 Olympic medals
60+ World Championship medals
Character Archetype: The Orphan
Jessica Long is the almost literal “orphan” character archetype. She's adopted at 13 months and her lower legs amputated at 18 months. But put away those sad violins and stop the pity party because Long is about to become the unlikely hero of this story.
After dabbling in gymnastics, ice skating, and rock climbing, Long focused on swimming, where she has absolutely DOMINATED since she was 12 years old. She is now the most successful Paralympic swimmer in history, with 13 Paralympic gold medals, over 60 World Championship medals, and countless world records.
In 2006, Long won the James E. Sullivan Award, given to the most outstanding amateur athlete in the U.S., beating out a field that included Brady Quinn, Michael Phelps, and Apolo Ohno. To this day, she is the first and only athlete with a disability to ever win the Sullivan Award. But that’s far from the first time she came out of nowhere to reach great heights.