Jessica Long Essay

What is the definition of incredible? On Google incredible is defined as something impossible to believe. There are many known athletes that are incredible because of how good of players they are. Players like Jessica Long, Bethany Hamilton, Natalia Partyka, Anthony Robles, and Marla Runyan are stated to be some of the best incredible athletes with disabilities because they don’t let that stop them from playing the sports they love. These athletes worked and never gave up until their goals were met and because of that they became very famous.

First, Jessica Long is one of the five incredible athletes that have a disability and because of her determination this is why she is remarkable. Jessica was born on February 29, 1992 in Siberia. When

“Anthony was born without a leg and he figured out how to be just as quick and strong as any other wrestler and became a National Champion”(Anthony Robles Bio). At the age of 3 he decided that he didn’t want to use a prosthetic leg to help him walk. So he used crutches all the time to help build his arm muscles. His great dedication helped him stay very fit which helped him become a great wrestler today. One of his first big achievements was doing the most push-ups in class at school, “breaking this record inspired Anthony that he could excel past his non-disabled schoolmates so he got into wrestling” (Anthony Robles Bio). In grade 8 he weighted 12 pounds less than his other opponents and his record was 5-8. Some of his greatest accomplishments is in 2011 NCAA Champion, 3 time NCAA All-American, and 3 time Pac-10 Conference Champ. At weight class 125 he finished his career ranked 8th in wins at Arizona State which was 122 overall win and only 23 loses. Anthony never quit and tried his hardest and ended up making his dreams come true and that is why he is incredible. (Anthony Robles

Marla Runyan was born on January 4, 1969 in Santa Marie, California. At the age of 9 she developed Stargardt’s Disease which made her legally blind. Later she graduated from Adolfo Camarillo High School in 1987. She had two degrees from San Diego University State in Education of deaf- Blind Children. While at San Diego State she began running and doing high jump. “Runyan began to make her mark as a world-class runner in 1999 at the Pan American Games” (Bussels). In the year 2000 at Sydney, Australia Runyan became the first legally blind person to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games and at the Olympics she finished 8th in the 1,500 meter run. Also in 2000 “Marla finished as the top American with the second fastest debut time by a women in the New York City Marathon” (Bussels). Although Runyan’s vision gets worse as time goes on she doesn’t allow it to affect her career. Unfortunately she is retired she still works as an ambassador at Perkins School for the blind.