Words matter. These are the best Jessica Long Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I’d love to see the 200s, the 50s, the 400 IM. I would do so many events.
Bedtime is truly one of my favorite times.
There was a time I used to focus on just being skinny, and now I really think about how can I be strong.
I used to not wear shorts in the summer time. I just wanted to hide it and wear long pants. Then after the Paralympics, I saw how the other athletes handled missing an arm or a leg and they didn’t care. That was what I needed to see.
When I first began competing, brands were quite hesitant to feature disabled athletes in advertisements, perhaps due to a fear of offending consumers.
I was never bullied as a kid, and I didn’t know that I was going to be bullied by adults because I park in handicapped. And I get it – I’m young and athletic – but I’m also missing legs.
I fell in love with this idea of becoming a swimmer. I knew two strokes at the time but I went and I just loved racing these girls with legs.
The last five years I’ve really worked on my mental health and seeing a therapist – which, it’s so funny cause I thought that in going into therapy, I was going to talk all about swimming, and if anything, I never talk about swimming.
Swimming was truly a way that I just felt that freedom from all of those surgeries and the pain.
Growing up, I was one of those energetic kids who never sat still.
I don’t know anyone who has made it through this life with it being super easy. Life is hard.
I think here in the U.S., we have a hard time accepting disabilities. That’s why I think it’s really good to share and let kids know that its not a disability, it’s an ability. You have an ability to inspire others.
I met my sister Nastya, and saw that I looked very much like her. Nastya is just a year younger than I am.
I’ve always just been really really active and I never wanted my legs to hold me back.
In 2018 I really hurt my back, my lower back, and it’s been a couple of years where we finally found out that I have an extra vertebra in my back.
It’s important that people can be themselves and live a normal life that’s not defined by a disability.
I love routines and love having something to look forward to.
I love swimming, but swimming can’t be my entire identity, my entire world.
One of the very first fashion features where I appeared without my prosthetic legs was in ELLE magazine’s publication, ‘Gold Rush.’
Before the Paralympic movement I definitely didn’t like wearing shorts because people would stare at me.
Sometimes people look at people with disabilities and there’s a moment where they just feel sorry for them.
I’m a big SkinCeuticals girl. I use their hyaluronic acid when my skin is a little wet, and I let it soak in.
As a 12-year-old when I won my first gold in Athens, I wanted people to know what the Paralympic games were.
At age 4 I started in gymnastics and used that as an outlet for my endless energy for several years.
It’s really awesome to come back home and be recognized for the hard work.
I always loved the water. It’s a place I can just take off these heavy prosthetics and just jump in the water and feel no different.
Everyone had a loss or lost something during COVID. I allowed myself to take long baths, watch cheesy movies, and just tried to slow down, and I made sure to maintain my mental health.
There was so much pain. Every time I grew, I had to go back in for a surgery. And I remember just being really, really scared but also, like, knowing exactly what to do. Like as a 3-year-old, I knew to crawl on top of the operating table.
The idea that I got to be on a team with Trischa Zorn – as a 12-year-old – is wild to me.
I don’t have anything to prove.
Sometimes 15 minutes of putting in a deep conditioner or doing my makeup are all I need to feel good.
I am so grateful that respected global swimwear brand Arena stepped up to support U.S. Paralympics as a supplier. They also sponsor me individually, as their first Paralympic swimmer.
My legs are heavy. They hurt me. I’m in pain So to all the handicap police out there, just be kind. You don’t need to know why someone’s parked in handicapped – and yeah, just be kind.
The Paralympics have given me so much, and I know what this sport can do for a young kid when it’s at its best.
Everyone had legs. Even my younger sisters both had legs. It was hard to comprehend what I did wrong: Why me? Then I found out about the Paralympics. It really did completely change my life.
There are things out of my control and that fuels my fire.
I’d love the gold and that’s what I’m obviously going for, but if I never bring home another gold in my life, I am more than enough.
I remember being really angry. I remember not wanting anything to do with God, and I was going in for surgeries every three months. And I mean, all I ever heard was God made me this way and I was like, ‘Hmm, I don’t think I like that.’
I tried my hardest to stay fit and active during quarantine. I went to my PT office four to five times a week. I did weights, a stationary bike, a rowing machine, and lots of abs.
It’s great to be No. 1, but it’s even greater to inspire people.
Maybe it’s part of being an athlete, but I feel like we’re really good, especially in swimming, about just pushing things down and pushing ahead.
I’m a big vitamins girl. I take iron because, especially being a female athlete, I have to make sure iron levels are good to go.
It would be really cool to teleport.
I just feel so much love towards my family.
My career and my life was one that probably wasn’t supposed to be.
I don’t mind if adults stare. They should really know about my physical situation.
I love putting on a candle, reading a book, and just taking a second for me.
You’re still a person with or without that gold medal. It just represents the hard work.
I’m a leap year baby.
Putting on shoes with my prosthetic legs is still hard for me, but at the end of the day, I’m just putting on really tall shoes.
As soon as we landed in Tokyo, that’s when I was like, OK. I really want to bring home a gold medal.’
Overall, I believe there has been a significant shift in the acceptance and appreciation of Paralympic athletes, but we still have a long way to go.
There was a time in 2008 where no one really wanted to talk to the Paralympic athletes.
I really love to sleep. I think that’s an amputee thing because I’m exhausted throughout the day.
Swimming, it’s the best job.
Every Sunday after church we would go over to my grandparents’ house and spend time with them and they had a pool in their backyard, and I would like eat as fast as I could just so I could be the first one in the pool. And then I would be the last one out.
I love swimming, but I love knowing that kids see me as an inspiration.
One athlete I absolutely love is Melissa Stockwell.
If you’re not in the right classification, you’re basically stealing funding and opportunities from other people. This is not the NFL. There’s only so much money to go around.
Winning gold medals is incredible and obviously it’s what I want to do, but there’s something so special about having a little girl who has just lost her leg from cancer come up and tell me I’m her hero.
I always loved pretending I was a fish or a mermaid while swimming in my grandparents’ pool.
All of my life, I’ve loved proving people wrong.
I love taking Epsom salt baths.
When I started I only swam freestyle, and did just freestyle in my first Paralympics.
After a Paralympic Games, I usually take a few months off to enjoy life or go on a family vacation.
When I look back on my life, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, have I swum the entire world? How many miles have I actually swam?’
My identity is in Christ, and I really hope that I show that with just my character, the way that I do things on the pool deck.
Younger kids will sometimes tease me, and that bothers me a little, but eventually I don’t care.
I enjoy my own company.
It’s so nice to go to a friend’s house and sleep over, stay up as late as I want.