UC Olympians and Paralympians gather for a photo with UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D., and Board of Regents Chair Janet Reilly on Sept. 19, 2024 in Los Angeles. From left, Camryn Rogers, Gizem Guvenc, Sienna Green, Tara Prentice, Johnny Hooper, Joanna Hayes, President Drake, Leo Merle, Hannah Chadwick and Janet Reilly. (Photo: Angela Clark/UC)

Blue and gold always reign supreme at meetings of the University of California Board of Regents, but the Sept. 18-19 meeting boasted a little more gold than usual, as UC Olympians and Paralympians were invited to share their reflections on the Summer Games in Paris and honored by the Board.

The Regents and the public heard from eight UC athletes: paracyclist Hannah Chadwick, water polo players Sienna Green, Johnny Hooper and Tara Prentice, track and field athletes Leo Merle and Camryn Rogers, swimmer Gizem Guvenc, and Joanna Hayes, who won gold in the hurdles in Athens in 2004 and is now UCLA’s director of track and field/cross-country.

“When I entered UC Irvine, both my parents had never even gone to college, and I didn’t know what I wanted to achieve in college,” Tara Prentice, UC Irvine alumna and water polo player, said. “I ended up leaving with two master’s and two undergraduate degrees. I don’t say that to say, ‘Look at me,’ but when you put yourself in such positive environments and allow yourself to be a dreamer and let yourself be inspired by those around you, they really can see something in you that you potentially don’t see in yourself. That’s the greatest gift the UC system, and especially UC Irvine, gave to me.”

Read the whole story — and watch a video — at the UC Newsroom

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