As we continue on our journey to highlight amazingly talented, pioneering women from politics, arts, and literature to culinary masterminds – we’re also celebrating inspiring women athletes who have competed with stamina, strength and grace throughout American history and today. In thinking of athletic achievement, it’s hard not to recognize those most impressive women who have the added obstacle of being physically challenged. Through perseverance and a refusal to quit when others said they could not do it, they won! While there are those women who look elegant next to the pool, there is nothing more majestic than those women who look amazing in it. Today, we are going for gold and honoring two Paralympic legends: Trischa Zorn-Hudson and Jessica Long – women who rule in the pool!
Blind from birth, Trischa Zorn-Hudson is the most decorated Paralympic athlete of all time with 55 medals - 41 gold, 9 silver, and 5 bronze. As a champion swimmer, Zorn-Hudson faced adversity with each stroke that met the water. Despite being born with aniridia, a genetic disorder that prevents the irises of the eyes from developing, she found a love and talent for swimming at an early age and competed in 7 Paralympic games. What began as her debut in Arnhem in 1980 and the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, Zorn-Hudson’s Paralympic success was just beginning. Her non-specialized style of swimming allowed her to compete in a wide range of events including freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, and individual medley with distances ranging from 50 to 100 meters. And while she was undefeated at the Seoul Games - winning 10 gold medals in 10 events, setting 10 world records - she faced a difficult time at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.
Trischa Zorn
As Zorn-Hudson’s career skyrocketed, she had to handle criticism and doubt from disbelievers in her disability, as her visual impairment could not be “seen.” However, Team USA did not doubt her and she was chosen as one of the few Paralympians to train and live at the Paralympic facilities in Colorado. But when her success fell short of expectations, she questioned whether or not to continue onto the 2004 Games in Athens. However, she gave it one last go at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games and earned her final medal – bronze – before retiring at the age of 40. In 2012, she was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame and USA Swimming honors a disabled swimmer with the Trischa L. Zorn Award every year.
Zorn-Hudson has once again impressed us – while she is no longer swimming in a pool, she did “swim” through law school. And she is now an attorney with the Department of Veterans Affairs in the fiduciary unit. While Zorn-Hudson wished the life of Paralympians at that time had been approached differently, she believes the challenges that she and others overcame helped pave the way for future Paralympic athletes; bringing us to the second most awarded Paralympic medalist of all time, Jessica Long.
Born in Russia and adopted by U.S. citizens at 13 months old, Jessica Long was raised in Baltimore and grew up swimming in her grandparents’ pool. Like many children, Long pretended to be a mermaid; but unlike many children, Long was born with fibular hemimelia - a birth defect where part or all of the fibula bones, as well as ankles, heels, and most of the other bones in the feet are missing. This very rare disease led to the amputation of both of her legs below the knee.
Jessica Long
While this disorder altered Long’s everyday life, her dream of becoming a professional swimmer would become a reality when she debuted her magnificent, gliding strokes at the age of 12 as the youngest Team USA member in the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, winning three gold medals. Proudly packing 23 medals, showcasing incredible athletic ability, Long is the second most decorated US Paralympian in history, but she isn’t done just yet. Long is expected to return for her fifth Paralympic Games in Tokyo and is set to continue her great success.
Whether it’s the grit mentality, inspiring beginnings, or overarching success, it is impossible not to admire these two exceptionally gifted women. It may not be what we think of as the typical gifts of a great athlete, but I would say it is far more than what we can fathom. Beyond just Paralympic gold medalists, these athletes are legends and leaders for future generations both within Paralympic history and in everyday life.