Most people wouldn’t think that Jessica could beat Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps or ice skater Sasha Cohen in a competition. But last March she won the Sullivan Award, given to the United States’ most outstanding amateur athlete. "I was just happy to be nominated," she says. "I was shocked to hear them say I’d won."

Jessica holds 34 American swimming records, 14 world records, and she won three gold medals at the 2004 Paralympic games in Athens. In December 2005 at the World Championships in Durban, South Africa, she won all nine events she competed in!

Humble Beginning
No one in the Russian orphanage where she lived for the first year of her life thought she’d accomplish so much. Jessica was missing ankle bones, heels, two leg bones and most of the other bones in her feet.

Her parents planned on adopting a child from another country but heard her story, saw her picture and knew she was the child God had picked for them. When Jessica was 18 months old, American doctors amputated her legs below the knees and immediately fitted her with her first pair of prosthetic legs. They stuck them right in the casts, and she started walking right away.

“Being adopted makes me appreciate things more, because I wonder what it would have been like if I had stayed in an orphanage,” she says.

Where some people complain about their lives, Jessica’s thankful—even for missing legs. “I really believe that God has an amazing plan for my life,” Jessica says. “To be born in Russia, be adopted by an American family, to have no legs, to swim, and to inspire people and tell them about Christ I think is really cool!”

Time in the Water
Jessica gives up time with friends to spend more time in the pool. “I love swimming! In fact, I love everything about it,” Jessica says.

Even the hard work and constant practice? “When you have a hard workout and hard sets, and you get done—you feel it in your arms. You feel the pain, but it’s a good pain, because you did it,” she explains. She has to love it; she practices every day except Sunday!

“When I actually get to go out, it’s rare, because I’m always swimming,” Jessica says. “Most of my friends are from swimming, so we’ll head out to the movies after practice on Fridays.”

She’s the only “disabled” swimmer on her home swimming team, if you can possibly call a swimmer disabled when she breaks world records and regularly wins competitions against able-bodied swimmers.

“There’s this one girl on my team who’s swimming in college, and at her college she’s in the higher group. I’m faster than she,” Jessica says.

“I know some swimmers who have their legs, and they just don’t try,” Jessica says. “I’m most thankful that God has blessed me with this ability to swim and the determination to succeed.”

Her determination keeps her from giving up, because she starts every race at the back of the pack. “The hardest thing for me is the starting,” she explains. “I have to try harder to jump out as far as I can, because I don’t have the rest of my legs, so it’s more difficult for me to get out there, but I do.”

It’s the start she has to overcome to win. “Everyone else has a better start, so they get ahead, and I have to catch up.”

Competition
When she competes locally, she swims against able-bodied girls. When she travels around the world, she competes against other swimmers with disabilities. “Right now, I’m preparing for the World Cup in Manchester, England. Then, a week later, I leave for Berlin, Germany.”

A few weeks after that, she flies to Vancouver, Canada, for another swim meet.

Jessica loves competing internationally, but she couldn’t do it if she wasn’t home schooled. “Being home schooled enables me to travel. If I went to public school, I wouldn’t be able to swim. My parents actually gave me that choice last year, and I chose swimming, of course!

“Traveling to competitions really didn’t happen until two years ago, when I started breaking records. Last September I got three gold medals in Athens, Greece; that’s when I could start traveling, because I made the team.”

Jessica has broken a lot of records in just two years. So what’s the big deal with breaking records? “I want to get my records as low as I can, and I want them to stay there as long as possible,” Jessica says.

“I’ve broken a record that lasted nine years, and I lowered it by 30 seconds.”

But once isn’t enough. “After I break a record, I’m thinking I’ve got to break it again. It’s always on my mind. I like to do it.”

She hopes to go back to the Paralympics in 2008. “I want to bring home seven gold medals and win all of my attempts again.”

Special Legs
Swimming isn’t Jessica’s only award-winning sport. She placed second in a rock-climbing competition after just one month of practice. Her prosthetist (the man who makes her legs) asked her to compete so she could try out special legs he designed for rock climbing.

“The legs are really cool. They have rock-climbing shoes on them, and they’re bright yellow. They have cut-out holes near my leg where I fit into the socket, so it’s lightweight. It had a little grip to it, so it gripped the wall if my foot slipped,” she says.

Those aren’t her only “cool” legs. She has a special pair of running legs that she uses at the track and a pair of legs with adjustable ankles so she can wear high heels. She even has feet with life-like toes with nails that can be painted. Just what every girl wants!

Doing it all for Christ
Her life hasn’t been easy, but Jesus gives her the strength to overcome the difficult things in her life.

“I know Jesus loves me, and I always try to do my best for Him. I know He has a plan for me, so I’m not afraid of the future. I believe He’ll give me the strength to do whatever I try to do for Him, to glorify His name.”

Jessica doesn’t feel weird because she’s an amputee. “Being an amputee makes me try harder, because I have to. I know I have to try harder just to get up to where someone who would just be starting or would have a little bit of practice would be, and I really have to work for that point,” she says.

Despite the difficulties, “I think I was born to swim,” she says. “God had a plan for me to be in an orphanage and to be adopted. God has definitely blessed me. It’s really cool. The fact that I can swim and I don’t have legs is exciting to me. I hope to inspire others who have disabilities.

“I was just at a meet in Michigan after I won the Sullivan Award, and there were girls running up and asking for my picture. There was this one little 10-year-old girl named Amy, and she has a similar disability to mine. Her friend was really outgoing and telling me things that Amy didn’t want her to tell. She said things about my being at the same hotel, and Amy was getting all excited about that. She was really cute and asked for my autograph and my e-mail. That’s definitely a good feeling, because that’s what I want to do: inspire anyone with a disability—and even people who don’t have a disability—to never give up.”

The Positive Side
When Jessica first started swimming, she couldn’t do all the strokes, but she kept trying and now holds world records in four different strokes. “If you want to do something, you should keep trying, and let God do the rest,” Jessica says. She hopes to write a book about her life to inspire people.

When bad things happen to us, it’s easy to blame God or at least to complain about it. Jessica believes God wants only to bless us, even if it means not giving us legs. “Everyone needs to understand that Christ died for us and wants the best for His children.

“No matter what’s happening in your life,” Jessica says, “never give up, and always love Jesus.”

Just Jessica
Other sports: gymnastics, skating, basketball, bowling, trampoline

Favorite foods: Chinese, pizza, chips and salsa

Favorite colors: blue and lime green

Web site: jessicalong.com

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Cool Awards
• Seventy-seventh James Sullivan Award for the nation’s top amateur athlete

• U.S. Olympic committee’s 2006 Paralympian of the year

• Swimming World magazine’s 2006 Disabled Swimmer of the Year