Panthers in Paris
Panthers in Paris
A Trio of current and former UNI athletes took the global stage at this summer’s Paralympic Games
The eyes of the United States and the University of Northern Iowa were on Paris this summer as a trio of current and former Panther student-athletes competed at the 2024 Paralympic Games in France.
Current Panther swimmer Olivia Chambers made her Paralympic debut in the pool and made history as the first current or former UNI athlete to win a medal at the Olympic or Paralympic Games since Bill Smith in wrestling in 1952, capturing two gold and one silver medal.
Former UNI track and field athlete Jessica Heims, ’21, competed in her third Paralympics, while her former teammate Erin Kerkhoff, ’24, appeared in
her second.
swimming
Olivia Chambers
Chambers opened the 2024 games with a bang with a gold medal swim in the S13 400-meter freestyle. The Little Rock, Arkansas native is legally blind due to complications from multiple mitochondrial gene deletion syndrome. She followed up her performance with a silver medal finish in the SM13 200-meter individual medley, as well as the SB13 100-meter breaststroke. She also placed fifth in the S13 100-meter butterfly, S13 50-meter freestyle and the mixed 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Since Paris, Olivia has been active in the pool at both the collegiate and para swimming level. In December, Olivia swam in her third U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Championship meet, capturing five first-place finishes.
track & field
Jessica Heims
A three-time paralympian, Heims placed sixth at this summer's Paralympics in Paris in the F64 discuss throw with a toss of 34.68 meters. The Swisher native was born with amniotic band syndrome and had her left leg amputated. She became involved in para track and field when she was 11 years old.
Competing at the Rio 2016 games, Heims placed eighth in the F44 classification and also ran the T44 400-meter dash, a race where she placed seventh. At Tokyo games in 2021, she improved in her overall finish with a fifth-place effort in the F64 classification. Outside of Paralympic competition, Heims has also represented the United States at the Para Athletics World Championships, the Para Pan American Games and the Para Athletics Grand Prix.
track & field
Erin Kerkhoff
Graduating from UNI in the spring of 2024, Kerkhoff placed fifth in the T13 400-meter dash in Paris with a time of 57.19 seconds, and seventh in the T13 100-meter dash (12.75). She also ran both events at the Tokyo games in 2021, which saw her place eighth in the 400 meters.
A Coralville native, Kerkhoff has dealt with visual impairment due to optic nerve atrophy since birth, leaving her with 20/300 vision in her right eye, and 20/400 in her left.
