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Baltimore Swimmer To Go For Gold In Olympics Next Summer

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The countdown has begun! It's one year until the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

Linh Bui has more on her inspiring story.

Baltimore swimmer Jessica Long has competed in three Paralympic Games, winning 17 medals---12 of them gold.

"I was adopted from Russia when I was 13 months old and I was born with fibular hemimelia, which basically means I was missing the lower parts of my legs," Long said. "I'm a bilateral amputee. To get around, I wear prosthetic legs---but I never wanted it to stop me."

Then Long started swimming.

"When I first jumped in, I only knew two strokes. At the time, I knew freestyle and backstroke but I kept going back and just practicing, and I loved the way the girls treated me on the team. I wasn't a disabled swimmer; I was a friend and a competitor first," she said.

Now she holds several world records and Long says she's succeeded with the help of donors and sponsors like Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Tuesday, she took time to thank their employees in Baltimore.

"I'm really excited to share my story and meet some of the people who help me get to where I am today," she said.

One year until Rio---and she's ready to go for gold again.

"This is it. This is the countdown. I remember right after London thinking of Rio, and now that was three years ago, you know? So just staying motivated, staying excited. And this is really go time," she said.

She will compete in nine events in Rio and there's a good chance we'll see her swim again in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Games.

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