Nadadora paralímpica medallista
Nacida en Siberia y adoptada a sus 13 meses por una familia americana.
Por causa de hemimelia fibular le tuvieron que ser amputadas las piernas menores a los 18 meses de nacida. Pronto aprendió a caminar con protesis.
A los 10 años comenzó a nadar y para el 2004 participó en sus primeros juegos paralímpicos.
Su gran tenacidad la han llevado a participar en 3 juegos paralímpicos, ganando un total de17 medallas: doce oro, tres de plata y dos de bronce.
Long was born Tatiana Olegovna Kirillova in Bratsk, Siberia and adopted 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 of the Year with a Disability. At the time she was born, her biological mother and father were unwed teenagers, 17 and 18 years old respectively. They later married and had three more children, one of whom is also disabled. Long’s adoptive brother, Joshua, was adopted at the same time from the same Siberian orphanage.
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 2008, Long won six medals at the Paralympics, including four gold. In addition to her four gold medals, Long set three new world records. One of her gold medals was the 100-meter freestyle, which she swam just 0.19 seconds ahead of Paralympic-record-holder and world-record-holder Israeli Keren Leibovitch.