Jessica Tatiana Long (born February 29, 1992) is a Russian-born American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at six Paralympic Games, winning 30 medals (17 of them gold). She has won over 50 world championship medals.

Early life

Long was born Tatiana Olegovna Kirillova in Bratsk, Russia. At the time she was born, her mother and father were unwed teenagers, 18 and 17 years old respectively. She was 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. She learned to walk with prostheses. Long 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. Long's brother, Joshua, was adopted at the same time from the same Siberian orphanage.

International swimming career

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. Long 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. On April 29, 2023, Long was named to the roster to represent the United States at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships. At the 2024 Summer Paralympics Long won two gold medals. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic committee barred Long from the 2024 Summer Paralympics Closing Ceremony after Long questioned Christie Raleigh Crossley's disability on social media. Major achievements: CR: Championship Record; WR: World Record

In popular media

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.