MINNEAPOLIS – Olivia Chambers became the first UNI swimmer in school history to be named to the United States team for the Paralympic Games on Sunday, as announced by U.S. Paralympic Swimming.
The rising senior and Little Rock, Arkansas native is one of 21 women and 33 total athletes selected to compete in the 2024 Paris Games in a team naming ceremony at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium. The 17th edition of the Summer Paralympic Games is scheduled to run August 28 through September 8 in the French capital, with swimming events to be held at the Paris La Defense Arena, August 29 through September 7.
In her U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials debut this past week, Chambers recorded a pair of first-place finishes in the S13 400-meter freestyle and SM13 200-meter individual medley, while also finishing second in the SB13
2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Naming Ceremony | June 30, 2024 (Minneapolis, Minn.)2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team as announced on Sunday.
100-meter breaststroke and S13 50-meter freestyle. In addition, Chambers also swam an exhibition heat of the S13 100-meter freestyle to help determine relay lineups for Team USA.
“It’s absolutely unreal right now,” Chambers explained. “I never thought I would be here getting to represent my country on this stage. There’s obviously a lot of pressure heading into the trials and I think I handled that very well. I’m super excited!”
Unlike the Olympic Swimming Trials where the top-two swimmers in each event automatically earn spots on the United States roster, the U.S. Paralympic Team is constructed using a formula that calculates the likelihood a swimmer is to earn a medal at the games based on their performance at the trials meet. While team members were announced on Sunday, the events each athlete will swim in Paris will be determined at a later date.
Chambers, who is legally blind due to multiple mitochondrial gene deletion syndrome, made her para swimming debut two years ago when she broke the first of her current five American records. A three-time U.S. Paralympic Swimming national champion, 2022 national championship meet Swimmer of the Meet and seven-time Para Swimming World Series medalist, broke onto the world stage last summer with six medals won at the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, England. The S13 world record holder in the 1,500-meter freestyle, Chambers was recently named the 2024 recipient of the Missouri Valley Conference’s (MVC) Most Courageous Award.
“To be among the 33 athletes chosen to represent the red, white and blue in Paris is a tremendous honor,” said UNI assistant swim coach Ben Colin. “We are so proud of Olivia and all her hard work to earn a spot on this year’s U.S. Paralympic Team. Her determination to chase her goals is something to behold and we can’t wait to see her represent her country in France!”
With her selection, Chambers joins an elite list of Panther athletes who have qualified for either the Olympic or Paralympic Games. The third all-time Paralympian in university history, she will seek to become the UNI first Paralympic medalist this summer, and Olympic or Paralympic medalist since wrestling’s Bill Smith captured gold in the freestyle welterweight competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
Chambers’ full event list and competition schedule for the Paris Games will be announced at a later date.
(TOP PHOTO of Olivia Chambers via UNI Athletics.)