Quotes from Jessica Long

I really live for the racing, the moments in those races where everything slows down even though you're swimming as fast as possible.

I always loved pretending I was a fish or a mermaid while swimming in my grandparents' pool.

Swimming was truly a way that I just felt that freedom from all of those surgeries and the pain.

There's something about it to me, the feeling of the water, and feeling, I don't know, equal, and like everyone else. Which is kind of funny because I didn't actually start swimming right away as a sport.

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 got married in October 2019, so all of 2019, I was planning my wedding.

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.

I love putting on a candle, reading a book, and just taking a second for me.

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.

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.

I really want to share my story, but also make Paralympics more well known.

You didn't have to tell a girl with no legs that she, you know, I knew I was different. I was missing half of my body. But I really had incredible parents who really taught me that, you know, God has always had a special a plan for me.

I'm a big SkinCeuticals girl. I use their hyaluronic acid when my skin is a little wet, and I let it soak in.

I think in today's world, we're so busy, and we're so distracted. But it's also really important to slow down.

Younger kids will sometimes tease me, and that bothers me a little, but eventually I don't care.

I sit down in a chair, and I take off my two heavy little prosthetic legs and I crawl on my knees to the edge of the pool and I just jumped in, and I just instantly loved it.

At 18 months old, both of my lower legs were amputated so I could be fitted with prosthetic legs and learn to walk.

Sometimes 15 minutes of putting in a deep conditioner or doing my makeup are all I need to feel good.

All of my life, I've loved proving people wrong.

One of the very first fashion features where I appeared without my prosthetic legs was in ELLE magazine's publication, 'Gold Rush.'

When I started I only swam freestyle, and did just freestyle in my first Paralympics.

There are things out of my control and that fuels my fire.

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.

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.