"There's a little bit of pressure, but there's not much because I know how well I'm going to do. I know what I want to achieve, and I have my goals," said Long, who won three gold medals as a 12-year-old at the last Paralympic Games in 2004 in Athens, Greece. "I know I can do it. I know I can win the gold. There's no need to get nervous."
Long has become one of the best-known Paralympians in the world, along with American track standout Marlon Shirley. But Long realizes that compared to fellow swimmers such as Phelps - among the athletes she beat out for the Sullivan Award - her achievements have limited visibility.
"I hope people know who I am. I hope people know about Paralympics. I hope it gets more well known because of me, getting out there," Long said. "I think winning the Sullivan Award really helped. I think Paralympics should be on TV. We all have such cool stories about our disabilities, about how hard we train and how hard we try. There's nothing we can't do."
