Jessica Long

Jessica Long continued her Paralympic winning run at Rio 2016, sealing one gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Despite her relatively young age, she is one of the world’s most decorated swimmers with 23 Paralympic medals, including 13 gold, and 30 world medals consisting of 24 gold.

Four years ago, she was named the 2011-12 Paralympic Sports Woman of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee, after winning eight medals at London 2012.

Aged 12, making her the youngest member of the US Paralympics team, she made her international debut at the Athens 2004 Games and won three gold medals.

In 2006, the S8 Para swimmer broke 18 world records, including five at the 2006 IPC World Swimming Championships, where she also picked up nine gold medals. In the same year she was named U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympian of the Year and also Disabled Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine.

After winning four Paralympic golds at Beijing 2008 and six world titles at the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships, Long added to her medal collection at the 2013 IPC Swimmming World Championships with three golds, one silver and a bronze. In 2015 she bagged a further four titles.

Long was adopted from a Russian orphanage at 13 months old. In 2013 she returned to Russia where she met her biological parents ahead of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games where she presented NBC's coverage of the Games.