Hi everyone, I’m 13x Paralympic gold medalist swimmer, Jessica Long, and I’m gearing up for the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 that kick off on August 25, 2020. My fellow Team Toyota athletes, fencer, Daryl Homer, and skateboarder, Jordyn Barratt, are getting ready for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which are ONE YEAR OUT from today on July 24, 2020.
Before we kick off the AMA, a little bit about us…
I’m Jessica Long and the second-most decorated U.S. Paralympian in history with 23 Paralympic medals (13 gold)! Despite having both legs amputated below the knee at 18 months old, I began swimming competitively at 10 years old.
Jordyn Barratt began skateboarding at 12 years old and, in 2016, she became the first female to compete in both skating and surfing at the VANS US OPEN where she podiumed in skateboarding. Skateboarding will be a completely new sport at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020!
Daryl Homer is a two-time U.S. Olympian and won the silver medal in individual saber at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. He has partnered with several global non-profits to bring sports to the forefront of youth engagement and was named an Athlete Role Model for the Summer Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018.
Ask us questions about our sports, training, qualifying or the Games experience…so let’s have it – Ask Us Anything!
And if you’re in need of more information about other Team Toyota athletes and their journey, subscribe to the Toyota Untold podcast to hear directly from Olympians, Paralympians and hopefuls. Available on iTunes, Podlink, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
PROOF: https://twitter.com/toyota/status/1153363850923839490
Follow all the Team Toyota athletes here:
- https://twitter.com/JessicaLong
- https://www.instagram.com/jordynbarratt/
- https://twitter.com/DarylDHomer
- https://twitter.com/teamtoyota
- https://www.instagram.com/teamtoyota/
EDIT: THANK YOU REDDIT! We only had an hour, so that's a wrap for us today on the AMA.
- Daryl: Thank you for the fencing questions! Looking forward to doing another Reddit AMA. Go Team USA!
- Jordyn: Thanks for asking questions! I’m stoked that skating is in the Olympics. Go Team USA!
- Jessica: Thanks for your time. SUPER FUN! Something that I loved is how all of you spelled Paralympics right.
33% human. That was the cutoff, ever since the 2036 Olympics, when Dash Sullivan rocketed through the 100 meter with nothing more than a brain and legs at 100 mph. From then on, athletes had to be at least 33% of a human being to compete.
Whether it's massive fluid loss for weigh ins, qualifications regarding transgender hormone therapy, or ski team selection rules for foreign countries, when a rule comes in place, coaches and athletes will exploit the fuck out of it. For to ignore it would be to put oneself at a disadvantage, and that was not about to happen on the world stage.
While coaches worked to whittle their athletes down to their last shred of humanity, constructing titanium cyborgs with superhuman physiques, I chose a different path. It has always bothered me that the brain and the spinal cord were the parts of the human conserved. Granted, they were what housed the athlete's mind. But since the robotics were doing the heavy lifting, why was an athlete even required?
It was upon this concept that my greatest creation was based- a six foot tall skeleton with a sleek titanium chassis and legs like an elk's. When I strode to the 2080 Paralympics with it in tow, I got a few smirks. Another few questionable glances. And many, many looks of defeat. I only hoped that I'd made the calculations correctly.
The techie behind the screen actually came out of his booth while my creation was scanning. "Sir, it appears your contestant doesn't have, well, a brain. I can't allow this through."
I opened my briefcase and brought out the papers I'd printed. "An athlete must contain at least 33% of a human being. This one does."
He blinked and stepped back into his booth. "Well I'll be damned. Did you fill it entirely with muscle and nerve?"
"33% of a human being." I smiled as he stamped our application. My arms and legs whirred as I tucked the papers back into the briefcase. Guess I wasn't quite used to my new parts yet. "I look forward to taking home the gold this year."
Edit: the UK came 2nd in the Olympics not 3rd
Edit: thanks for those who have actually answered the question. To clarify, I wasn't attacking USA in any way, simply trying to understand the difference. It seems the Paralympics is more popular in the UK and so they get more money
"The UK tops the Google Trends chart in searches for Paralympics, followed by New Zealand, Ireland and Australia. The US is in 25th place, behind Singapore." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37323452 (Credit to /u/HeartyBeast for that link)
Why it is so popular in the UK and not the US is still a mystery to me!
There are just two players to ever obtain an NBA MVP, Finals MVP, and an Olympic Gold Medal all in the same year. Micheal Jordan did it in 1992 and LeBron joined the elite company when he did it in 2012 with his Miami Heat.
