{"id":479284,"date":"2021-06-21T12:45:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T19:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=479284"},"modified":"2021-06-21T12:45:37","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T19:45:37","slug":"jessica-long-rudy-garcia-tolson-selected-to-fifth-paralympics-for-team-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/jessica-long-rudy-garcia-tolson-selected-to-fifth-paralympics-for-team-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Long, Rudy Garcia-Tolson Selected to Fifth Paralympics for Team USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Long, Rudy Garcia-Tolson Selected to Fifth Paralympics for Team USA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team USA announced the Paralympic swimming team for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics on Monday<\/a>, a group of 24 women and 10 men that includes five-time Paralympians Jessica Long<\/strong> and Rudy Garcia-Tolson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The selection follows the three-day Paralympic Team Trials at the University of Minnesota\u2019s jean J. Freeman Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n

Long competed for the first time at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens at the age of 12. Long has won 23 Paralympic medals, including 13 golds, the second-most decorated American Paralympian in history.<\/p>\n

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Jessica Long; Photo Courtesy: Kevin McCarthy<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if pleased (with the results) is the correct word, just because I knew coming into this that I wasn\u2019t going to be rested or tapered,\u201d Long said after completing a six-swim program at Trials<\/a>. \u201cWe kind of did a drop taper, a very small rest, so of course I would have liked to swim faster but last week I had a full week of training. I think more than anything I\u2019m a veteran so I know when to perform under pressure in a very, very big Paralympic environment and that\u2019s what I\u2019m really looking forward to. This job was to make the team and swim fast, and I feel like I did that. I did what I needed to. But in Tokyo is where I shine under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malory Weggman, McKenzie Coan, Becca Meyers<\/strong> and Colleen Young<\/strong> are all on Team USA for a third Games. Weggemann, a native of Eagan, Minnesota, got to enjoy Trials near her home<\/a>. She\u2019s the reigning world champion in the S7 50 free and 50 fly.<\/p>\n

Coan won the 100 and 400 free in Rio and at the last World Championships. She\u2019s chasing the S7 world record in both.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my teammates and my coach are so sick of hearing me talk about it because I, literally, that\u2019s all I think about anymore,\u201d Coan said. \u201cIt\u2019s all I talk about, it\u2019s all I think about. It\u2019s something I dreamed about for such a long time. But it was nice to go best time. I feel like I keep chipping away at it.\u201d<\/p>\n