University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Heims' Paralympic Schedule On Hold With IOC Decision
3/24/2020 8:10:00 PM | Track and Field
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – UNI junior discus thrower Jessica Heims was gearing up for the 2020 Paralympic games in Japan. That plan ended Tuesday when the International Olympic Committee and the Prime Minister of Japan announced the postponement of the 2020 games as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The games will now take place sometime in the summer of 2021.
Heims is disappointed in the loss of the opportunity, but understands the committee's decision and views the postponement as the logical choice.
"It is heartbreaking to have an Olympic year moved back, but overall, I am proud of the Olympic Committee for putting the health of the athletes and people around the world first," Heims said. "It was a tough decision but whether or not we want to uproot our athletic lives, ultimately it was what needed to happen."
Heims, the F64 Discus world record holder, now looks to change her competition cycle and hopes to be ready to peak for next year's games.
"It absolutely changes everything," she said. "Now I have to shift my mindset back to where I was last year with my training and competition to a pre-Olympic year so my coaches and I have are going to have to take some time to figure out how to adjust our schedule."
With the Paralympics moved back a year, and no other meets on scheduled after the collegiate season was also canceled, Heims will look to simulate meets and find opportunities to train with most facilities closed and social distancing recommendations in place.
"I am really going to have to push myself," she said. "We will look at doing some simulated meets to make sure that we continue to have things to look forward to and to make sure that I am peaking when I need to peak."
UNI throws coach Dan O'Mara notes how difficult it is to change a mindset from a competition to a pure training process.
"It is tough for an elite athlete at the Paralympic level to change that target peak schedule so we are going to readjust how we are going to train moving forward," O'Mara said. "It would be nice if we had something to look forward to, but everything is changing so rapidly that we are going to have to get reevaluate where we are at every week and go from there until we have some more definitive answers."
The Paralympic trials, which were set for July 24 in Minneapolis are out the window. There are no clear answers as to when the next year's qualifying will take place or even when she can compete at a meet again. Heims and her coaches will still target the trials date for an opportunity to evaluate her training and see how to improve her training. That is, if she has an opportunity to train at all with the current situation with the outbreak.
"We are going to continue to work every week and reevaluate where we are at," O'Mara said. "We will still look at the June 24th to see where we are at as long as things calm down a little bit. If not, we might have to put our training on pause for a little bit until things come around."
Heims is disappointed in the loss of the opportunity, but understands the committee's decision and views the postponement as the logical choice.
"It is heartbreaking to have an Olympic year moved back, but overall, I am proud of the Olympic Committee for putting the health of the athletes and people around the world first," Heims said. "It was a tough decision but whether or not we want to uproot our athletic lives, ultimately it was what needed to happen."
Heims, the F64 Discus world record holder, now looks to change her competition cycle and hopes to be ready to peak for next year's games.
"It absolutely changes everything," she said. "Now I have to shift my mindset back to where I was last year with my training and competition to a pre-Olympic year so my coaches and I have are going to have to take some time to figure out how to adjust our schedule."
With the Paralympics moved back a year, and no other meets on scheduled after the collegiate season was also canceled, Heims will look to simulate meets and find opportunities to train with most facilities closed and social distancing recommendations in place.
"I am really going to have to push myself," she said. "We will look at doing some simulated meets to make sure that we continue to have things to look forward to and to make sure that I am peaking when I need to peak."
UNI throws coach Dan O'Mara notes how difficult it is to change a mindset from a competition to a pure training process.
"It is tough for an elite athlete at the Paralympic level to change that target peak schedule so we are going to readjust how we are going to train moving forward," O'Mara said. "It would be nice if we had something to look forward to, but everything is changing so rapidly that we are going to have to get reevaluate where we are at every week and go from there until we have some more definitive answers."
The Paralympic trials, which were set for July 24 in Minneapolis are out the window. There are no clear answers as to when the next year's qualifying will take place or even when she can compete at a meet again. Heims and her coaches will still target the trials date for an opportunity to evaluate her training and see how to improve her training. That is, if she has an opportunity to train at all with the current situation with the outbreak.
"We are going to continue to work every week and reevaluate where we are at," O'Mara said. "We will still look at the June 24th to see where we are at as long as things calm down a little bit. If not, we might have to put our training on pause for a little bit until things come around."
Players Mentioned
Throws / Sprints
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