Jessica Long on winning her 30th Paralympic swimming medal: 'I love this entire movement. It's all I've ever wanted to do'

Following her historic 30th Paralympic medal, Team USA’s Jessica Long reflects on her historic Para swimming career in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com.

From winning her first gold in the 400m freestyle S8 as a 12-year-old at Athens 2004 to winning her 30th Paralympic medal as a 32-year-old at her sixth Paralympic Games in Paris, Long shares the positive changes she’s seen in the Paralympic movement, her evolving motivation across these 20 years, and her goals for her final Paralympics at LA 2028.

On winning her 30th Paralympic Medal: “I was more than prepared if I didn't win a medal”

Long has won an astonishing 17 Paralympic golds, eight silvers, and five bronze medals in Para swimming across her 20-year Paralympic career. But Long says that the three years leading up to Paris 2024 were the hardest years of her life, both due to the short three-year training window and in finding her motivation.

“I didn't want to have to come and compete,” says Long, “I just remember thinking, 'What else do I have to do?' I've won every race I’ve ever set the goal to win, and I've won it over and over again.”

She set out to change her mindset and reevaluate her goals, realizing, “For me it’s just important to show up. That’s something I've really learned this past week. Even with my competitors, Alice Tai saying, ‘Jess, I'm just so thankful you're still here.’”

This 30th medal didn't come easy for Long, “Coming to my sixth Paralympics, I was more than prepared if I didn't win a medal," she says. "My first two races were definitely pretty tough—to get a sixth place and a fourth place. But I'm so grateful that I was able to dig deep in the 400 free and somehow come away with not just a medal, but the gold medal for my 30th Paralympic medal.”

The changes Jessica Long has seen in the Paralympics across 20 years and the importance of role models

As a longtime competitor, Long has a unique perspective on the growth of the Paralympic movement. “When I was 12 years old, there were so many people who did not even know what the Paralympics were,” says Long, “And that's always been my goal, is to grow the Paralympics and to showcase what Paralympic sport is all about.”

Long also credits the "Superhuman" campaign at London 2012 with, “pushing the Paralympic movement forward.”

And she’s still seeing growth at Paris 2024, “For me, it's just incredible to see sellout crowds. It's incredible to see people care. On our credentials, you see the Olympic rings and the Agitos. And I think that's the most amazing thing.”

She also credits the athletes who paved the way for her: “Erin Popovich is someone I've looked up to my whole life,” says Long. “There's this ripple effect where we all have an impact on each other, especially women in sport and Paralympics. As athletes that we have an opportunity to be role models for the next generation.

“Popovich was my competitor in the breaststroke. And she's now our director. It’s been so sweet to still have her on the pool deck. She was someone that I always wanted to be like—she had 14 Paralympic gold medals by the time she retired, and she set the bar so high.”

Long shares a core memory from Tokyo, “I’ll never forget when I surpassed her 14 gold medals, giving her the biggest hug and just saying, ‘Thank you for setting the bar so high’.”

On her healing journey through Paralympics: “I just wanted to prove that I was worthy of love”

Long reflects on that first gold medal win as a 12-year-old in Athens: “I'll never forget my first race. It was the 100-meter freestyle. And in that final race, about ten meters out, I remember breathing to my right and seeing the world record holder, who was twice my age, and just thinking to myself, ‘I did not come here to get second.’ And I out touched her by a 10th of a second.”

It's a happy memory for Long but it is also tinged with a realization of where her drive came from back then. “When I look back on my Paralympic journey, you know, when. I was 12 years old, at my first one, 16 at my second, 20 at my third. For me, I think I was so good because I just wanted to prove that I was enough. I was adopted, born without my legs. I just wanted to prove that I was worthy of love. And I think I found that gold medals did something for me.

“I'm truly at a point in my life, in my career that I'm so proud of myself. And for a long time I wasn't. And I think that's why I truly did so well for so long, is that I was just never satisfied.”

Long now recognizes that she’s not defined by her medals, now, “I'm just someone who loves to swim.”

On LA 2028: “It's exciting to think of seven Paralympics”

Long has one more opportunity to up her medal count at Paris 2024, where she is set to defend her title in the 100m butterfly-S8 on 7 September. Ever the competitor, Long says, “My goal to finish Paris is to just hopefully try to get on that podium again.

After that, Long says, “I'm coming towards the end of my career— I hope to end in LA.” As long looks ahead to LA 2028.

She says her motivation to keep competing for the next four years comes from the love of the sport: “I love swimming, I love racing, and I love just challenging myself. Swimming is so unique because I'm still learning. I’ve been swimming for 20 some years, but I'm still learning my hand placement. Or if I move my hips in a certain way, if I pull my chin down and I breathe this way…” She adds, “I think if I felt like I truly have mastered it, I wouldn't still be here.”

“Just the thought of people coming and watching the Paralympics in the US, gets me so excited. But that's going to be my farewell. I hope Michael [Phelps] is there. I hope he presents medals. But, for me, it's exciting to think of seven Paralympics. Seven's always been one of my favorite numbers, but to do it on home soil, it's like the time is going to pass, so why not go for it?”