Northern Iowa Paralympic swimmer wins gold, silver in Paris

The firsts are rolling in for University of Northern Iowa senior Olivia Chambers — who in August became the first UNI swimmer in school history named to a U.S. Paralympic team and on Saturday became the first UNI Paralympic medalist, earning her first Paralympic gold with a 4:29 time in the women’s S13 400-meter freestyle.

“She is a rookie at the Paralympic Games, but don’t tell Olivia Chambers that,” an NBC commentator said before praising her “race of a lifetime.”

“She is golden in Paris,” the commentator said as Chambers pounded the water after reaching out her arm to touch the pool wall two seconds ahead of her second-place competitor from Italy, Carlotta Gilli.

On Tuesday, Chambers, 21, captured a silver medal in the women’s SM13 200-meter individual medley — this time falling just a half second behind Gilli, although achieving a new career best of 2:25.90.

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Chambers was born able to see, but when she was 16, her vision became blurry. For a year and a half, optometrists told her it would clear up. Eventually, she was diagnosed with multiple mitochondrial gene deletion syndrome and nystagmus, a condition that causes her eyes to make repetitive, uncontrolled movements.

Before her diagnosis, Chambers had been honored in 2017 as the best distance swimmer in her home state of Arkansas. But, she told The Gazette earlier this summer, her vision impairment slowed her down.

“It took me a couple years, honestly, to figure out how to swim normal again,” she said. “I had to figure out what my stroke count was for each race, so I relied on that to know when I turn.”

Chambers started competing in para swimming two years ago, after joining the UNI swim team in 2021.

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Once her coaches approached her about para swimming and she decided to dive in, so to speak, Chambers quickly ascended to the top of the sport — shattering a 10-year-old American record in the 400-meter individual medley and three months later competing in her first international event in Mexico.

At the 2022 U.S. Paralympics Swimming Championships, Chambers won three medals, including two golds in the 400 freestyle and 200 individual medley that she just competed in at the Paralympics in Paris.

Chambers returned to the pool Wednesday afternoon — competing in the mixed 4x100-meter freestyle relay for Team USA. She and her teammates on the relay, Anastasia Pagonis, David Abrahams and Evan Wilkerson, recorded a fifth-place finish.

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Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com