Finishing first in the Women’s 100-meter Backstroke, Long broke the previous American and Pan-American standard by over 1 second, touching the wall in 1:29.35. In the 200-meter Individual Medley, she bettered her own standard with a 3-second improvement, finishing in 3:02.59. Long’s time of 21:11.87 in the 1500-meter Freestyle set a new world standard, as well as new American and Pan-American records.

Yet Jessica Long, a 13 year-old bilateral below-the-knee amputee from Baltimore, Maryland, is taking her new swimming records in stride— literally. She strides with confidence as she tries out new high-tech prosthetic legs that will allow her to run. It's all part of her long-term plan to expand her athletic ability so that she will be able to compete in the Triathlon, a competition that includes, swimming, running and cycling.

The Triathlon is expected to become an official Paralympics sport in the future, and Long wants to be ready. "I do my swimming without legs," she says, "but I need prostheses for the running and cycling. Since they're each really different events, I have to have two different pairs of legs. I have to start training now."

Long was born without fibulas, ankles, heels or most of the other bones in her feet. When she was 18 months old, her American parents adopted her from an orphanage in Siberia and brought her to the U.S., where both of her legs were amputated below the knees.

"I was fitted with prosthetic legs, and my parents tell me I learned to walk within a few weeks," she recalls.

Now Long has advanced to using Space Age prosthetic running legs, which were custom-designed, made and fitted by Jonas Seeberg, Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist at Real Life Prosthetics in Abingdon, Maryland. Seeberg says he developed the prosthetic legs after evaluating Jessica's functional capability and analyzing the specific physical demands involved in competitive running.

"These are custom prostheses in every sense. They are made only for Jessica and made only for her to use in athletic training and competition," says Seeberg. "These prostheses have to be reliable, they have to be durable to withstand repeated wear and tear, and they have to be lightweight to minimize fatigue. That's why we use super-strong, ultra-light components, like titanium alloys and carbon composites. Most of all, these prostheses have be comfortable, so they have to fit perfectly."

To ensure that Long's prosthetic running legs conform exactly to her body's specifications, Seeberg uses computer assisted design (CAD-CAM) software, which generates precise 3-D anatomical imaging and links the data to a three-axis carver. The carver shapes the prostheses to perfectly match Long's body. When the time comes, Seeberg will use the same process to create cycling legs for Long.

Jonas Seeberg says that he is not only Jessica Long's prosthetist, but that he has become one of her biggest fans. He even traveled to Athens, Greece in 2004 to cheer her on as she competed in swimming in the International Paralympic Games. Long, then age 12, was the youngest member of the U.S. team and the youngest Paralympian to win gold— two individual gold medals and one gold medal as part of a relay. In addition, Long has earned seven national gold medals and one national silver medal. She holds 21 American records, eight Pan-American records, two Paralympic records and two world records.

Long says, "I feel very thankful to have come all the way to America from a Russian orphanage. God has given me many opportunities, and I know He still has more planned for me in the future."

If she has her way, Jessica Long will be ready to compete in the Triathlon as soon as it becomes an official Paralympics sport. In the meantime, she will continue to train, compete in swimming and aim for the next international Paralympics Games in Beijing, China in 2008.

"I want to compete in six events and bring home six more gold medals," she says.