Russia: Paralympian Jessica Long returns to her orphanage

M/S Children clapping and singing
M/S Jessica Long entering orphanage, greeting teacher
M/S Children clapping and singing
C/U Jessica Long
M/S Young girl smiling
M/S Jessica Long greeting old teacher
M/S Jessica Long holding baby
M/S Young girl in swimming pool
M/S Jessica Long at swimming pool
C/U Young girl in swimming pool
M/S Jessica Long with children and carers
SOT Jessica Long, Paralympic swimmer (Speaking English): "To me a negative
attitude is a disability, and even though I'm missing my legs, I don't see
it as a handicap, I see it as an advantage to inspire people."
M/S Orphanage exterior
W/S Orphanage exterior
SCRIPT
Russia: Paralympian Jessica Long returns to her orphanage
Russian-born Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long travelled to Irkutsk on
Friday, where she visited the orphanage she lived in before her adoption to
an American family.
Long was born with the name Tatiana Kirillova in the Siberian town of
Bratsk in 1992, but her biological parents gave her to the orphanage to put
up for adoption. At the age of 13 months,Tatiana was adopted by the Long
family and grew up in the United States under the name Jessica.
Sufferng from fibular hemimelia, her lower legs were amputated when she was
18 months old, and she had to learn to walk with prosthetics. Despite this,
Jessica went on to become a gold-medal winning Paralympic swimmer.
During her visit, she said: "To me a negative attitude is a disability, and
even though I'm missing my legs, I don't see it as a handicap, I see it as
an advantage to inspire people."
Jessica visited the orphanage and met with old teachers such as Olga
Milyutkina, who learnt of her Olympic success from a newspaper article in
2004. On Saturday, Jessica will visit her biological parents in a remote
village in the region of Irkutsk.