a great story.
Following the Games, I saw that the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) had announced its Paralympic athletes and teams of the year following the London 2012 Games. Jessica Long was awarded the Paralympic Sportswoman of the Year title after she won eight medals, five of them gold, in London. Equaling the haul of fellow swimmer Jacqueline Freney of Australia, Long took home the most medals won by any athlete in London, and brought her total to 17 medals won over three Paralympic Games. The award added to the Disabled Swimmer of the Year accolades Long received in 2011 from Swimming World Magazine and the ESPY Award for the Best Female Athlete with a Disability she won earlier in 2012.
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Two days after she returned from London, we began to text regarding finally getting together about sitting down for a chat about her accomplishments. So, in preparation I went back to the internet, googled “Jessica Long” and started reading wild, tabloid-style stories coming from London in regard to her birth parents, Siberia and a Moscow TV show.
Here are the two primary pieces that I found and my jaw dropped:
This is one is from the Daily Mail in the U.K.
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