Paralympics

Paralympics McFadden 1st in preliminary round of 800 meters T54 Tatyana McFadden (Atholton) won Round 1 of the women's 800 meters T54 at the London Paralympics on Tuesday, finishing in 1 minute, 47.66 seconds. She will compete in the final today. Women's swimming: Jessica Long , formerly of Middle River, won the silver medal in the 100 backstroke S8. Long surged from third place at the halfway mark and finished in 1:18.67. Earlier in the day, she won the heat in 1:21.75.

Paralympic gold medalist Jessica Long will serve as grand marshal for the Towson University homecoming parade on Saturday, Baltimore County officials announced today. The parade is scheduled to begin at noon, kicking off a day of celebration dubbed "Revelry and Rivalry." The procession will begin at Bosley and Allegheny avenues in downtown Towson, travel south on Washington Avenue, then west on Towsontown Boulevard to Towson University's Burdick Field. Admission to Burdick Field is free, and Towson Tiger fans are invited to enjoy food, music, live entertainment and games, officials said.

Before she could compete in Athens, Greece, Tatyana McFadden had to complete a questionnaire: "What are your major accomplishments?" Others on the U.S. Paralympic team had more than enough answers. One was studying medicine at Yale. Another had received the Purple Heart medal in Vietnam. So the 15-year-old Atholton High freshman asked her mother for help. "Well, you graduated from eighth grade last year," said her mother, Deborah McFadden, laughing. "That counts, right?" But Tatyana's list of accomplishments started well before her final year at Lime Kiln Middle School.

This Baltimore swimmer hopes to add to an already heavy stash of medals in London this summer. But in addition to training for the qualifying trials in June, there are multiple promotional demands of an Olympic year: modeling the Ralph Lauren-designed athletes attire, shooting commercials for sponsors such as Coke and speaking at media roundtables like the one held here Sunday. It's no wonder that sometimes, you just want to go and get a pretty manicure. "I call them my 'me' dates.

Touch the wall - early and often. That was swimmer Jessica Long's goal at the Paralympic Games in Beijing. The Middle River teenager accomplished her task. Long won six medals - four gold, one silver and a bronze -and set three world records at the Games, which ended Tuesday. That done, she set out to complete the other mission she set for the China trip. Touch the Wall. The Great Wall. It was no easy job for Long, who wears prosthetics because her legs were amputated below the knees.

Jim Leatherman was a basketball veteran when he played on the U.S. wheelchair team at the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea. Next week, in Atlanta, he will be one of six Baltimore-area athletes competing in the 10th Paralympic Games, a gathering of the world's top disabled athletes. The games will run Aug. 15-25.This time, participating in the yachting competition, he faces the challenge of a sport that's new to him.But he's faced challenges before.In October 1966, Leatherman, then 6, was playing tag with friends in Highlandtown when he slipped, slid down an $l embankment and landed under a moving train.

Centennial volleyball coach Mike Bossom leaves next Thursday for the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games in Australia, where he will coach the U.S. men's standing disabled volleyball team. "It should be a great experience," said Bossom, who has coached the team for three years and said this year's squad is ranked No. 2 in the world behind Poland. The team practiced the past two weekends at the Columbia Volleyball House. The Paralympic Games will be held Oct. 18-29 at the same venues as the Olympics.

Jessica Long's proficiency in the pool is apparent after a few strokes. Bobbing up and down on the breaststroke, she's indistinguishable from the practice partners in her lane, but something seems missing from her otherwise impeccable freestyle form. The less splash swimmers make with their hands, the faster they go, but Long's kick leaves a curiously scant trail. The 14-year-old from Middle River has mastered the pull and push of water well enough to set multiple world records, but her athleticism is fully comprehended only on the pool deck.

Jessica Long has had to overcome obstacles all of her life. The field she had to beat out to win an ESPY on Wednesday night for the Best Female Athlete with a Disability was a tough one, filled with some remarkable athletes. Long, who had to have her legs amputated when she was just 18 months old in Russia where she was born, triumphed once again, winning the award for the second time. The swimmer is the second repeat winner in the award's history. Long grew up in Middle River after emigrating from Russia.

They fought for months. Passionately, always. Heatedly, sometimes. Susan Katz was just 11 years old, but she was determined to win this argument with her parents because she understood so clearly, so absolutely, what was at stake. Born with spina bifida, she'd undergone surgery a few months earlier to relieve her stretched spinal cord. But the operation didn't go as expected, leaving Katz with two options: walk with the aid of crutches and braces, or use a wheelchair. "We battled it out on that one," Katz recalls.