Oyuna Uranchimeg, an administrative assistant in the Emerging Media Department at the University of St. Thomas, recently spoke with NBC Sports ahead of the Milan Cortina 2026 Paralympic Games. Born and raised in Mongolia, Uranchimeg has spent the last two decades rebuilding her life in Minnesota, transforming personal tragedy into triumph as a Paralympic wheelchair curler and a proud member of the St. Thomas community.
From the article:
... Uranchimeg began her wheelchair curling career at age 43. She made her first Paralympic team in 2022 and hopes to compete in the first Paralympic mixed doubles event in 2026.
She primarily trains at the Chaska Curling Center, a 35-minute drive from her home, on weekends. St. Thomas is set to open a new hockey arena this fall.
“I talked to the College of Arts and Sciences dean, is there a way we can have some dedicated curling ice?” Uranchimeg said, chuckling.
Her department set up a big-screen watch party in a classroom for one of her games at the 2022 Beijing Paralympics. The university also gives her a flexible schedule that accommodates her travel for competitions.
She is grateful. She also reciprocates, taking her work laptop with her to competitions and remotely joining department meetings.
Uranchimeg has said she was reborn in America. More specifically, Minnesota, from a Twin Cities hospital to Burnsville, her home for the last 24 years, and sheets of ice in Blaine and Chaska.
And at St. Thomas, where her daughter graduated in 2021 as a neuroscience and biology major. ...
