Meet the First University of Northern Iowa Swimmer to Make the U.S. Paralympic Team

As a little girl growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, Olivia Chambers could see clearly.

She could see the crystal-clear water of the pool where she had taken her first swimming lessons at age 4. She could see the other swimmers she was passing as she became more competitive — breaking her first state record at age 7. And she could see herself in the future — continuing to swim and win and one day compete at a higher level.

But, without warning, one day, while still a freshman in high school at the age of 16, she woke up with a darkened vision – ushering in an alternate reality.

“I was reading a book, and all of a sudden everything became a blur,” said Chambers, now 21 and entering his senior year at the University of Northern Iowa.

At the time she was still in the dark, Chambers said she didn’t immediately panic. “It was a little scary,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is a little weird.'”

Her ophthalmologists assured her that she would recover.

“They told me it was normal and that it should go away in a few days,” she said. “Of course, it didn’t. But for a year and a half, doctors told me I would get my sight back.”

“The place for me”

As her vision became increasingly blurry, Chambers was eventually diagnosed with multiple mitochondrial gene deletion syndrome, while also suffering from nystagmus, a condition that causes repetitive, uncontrolled movements of her eyes.

“At first I was also squinting. So I got special prism lenses that allowed me to see out of one eye instead of two,” she said. “Now I just keep my left eye closed. (…) It’s easier when I close one eye.”

She underwent surgeries and Botox, a treatment for nystagmus, but nothing improved or corrected her condition, which left her legally blind.

“It was definitely an adjustment,” Chambers said of how the loss affected his swimming. “I was hitting a lot of walls.”

After being honored in 2017 as Arkansas’ top distance swimmer, Chambers said her vision impairment slowed her down.

“Honestly, it took me a few years to figure out how to swim normally again,” she said. “I had to figure out what my stroke count was for each race, so I based that on when I should turn.”

Despite the obstacles Chambers faced, she maintained a 4.38 GPA as a senior in high school and earned her school’s Alana Wolfe Memorial Scholarship for outstanding character. Having competed in 21 state meets during her junior swimming career, Chambers said she considered several colleges before landing at UNI in 2021.

“I was recruited during COVID, which really complicated things,” she said, admitting that at first, “I wasn’t looking at UNI at all.”

“But when programs (in Arkansas) started cutting budgets and couldn’t accommodate as many people, or just cutting the team overall, I expanded my search, and UNI happened to be one of them.”

The UNI team and environment – even if they were not his first concern – ultimately seemed to be the ones that suited him best.

“They seemed to be having a lot of fun swimming, instead of putting too much pressure on themselves,” Chambers said. “And the coaches seemed very encouraging, so I felt like it was the perfect place for me.”

Olympic dreams

Fast forward to the end of her first year as a Panther, Chambers said the coaches sat her down to discuss their vision for her.

“They talked about doing para-swimming because they thought I was going to be really successful,” Chambers said. “And I’m really glad they did. Because it gave me the push I needed to say, OK, maybe this is something I should do.”

Her coaches were right, with Chambers’ entry into para-swimming earning her a trip to Manchester, England, last year for the World Para-Swimming Championships – where she won six medals, including two silver and four bronze.

With her figurative sights set once again on Europe, Chambers traveled to Minnesota last month to compete for a spot on Team USA at the upcoming Paralympic Games in Paris, scheduled for Aug. 28-Sept. 8.

And she kept her promises, obtaining two first places and two second places.

Since the U.S. Paralympic team chooses its athletes using a formula to calculate the probability of a person winning a medal, rather than simply taking the top two swimmers in each event, Chambers said that even with her strong results, she wasn’t sure she would have made the team.

“You don’t know who’s going to be on the team until the day they announce it,” she said.

And even when they did, Chambers said it didn’t feel real.

“I honestly couldn’t quite believe it,” she said. “It was completely crazy. … I honestly didn’t know what to feel.”

Now in the training phase, Chambers is thrilled to be one of 21 women and 33 total athletes selected to the Paralympic swim team. She also becomes the first UNI swimmer in school history to be named to a U.S. Paralympic team and joins a list of elite Panther athletes to qualify for the Olympics or Paralympics.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be one of the 33 athletes chosen to represent the red, white and blue flag in Paris,” said UNI Assistant Swimming Coach Ben Colin. “We are so proud of Olivia and all of her hard work to earn a spot on this year’s U.S. Paralympic Team. Her determination to pursue her goals is something to behold, and we look forward to seeing her represent her country in France.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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