Olympic Strength

Fall 2024
By Andrew Bell

Erna Gunnarsdóttir ’22 competed on the world stage Aug. 8, representing her home country of Iceland and Rice University in the shot put at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Gunnarsdóttir competed on Rice’s track and field team from 2018 to 2023, earning nine all-conference honors, five conference titles and four All-American honors. She ranks second all-time in both indoor and outdoor shot put at Rice.

Making the cut for the Olympics was a long process for Gunnarsdóttir, who traveled weekend after weekend to different countries for international meets. But the work ultimately paid off for the Rice graduate.

“I managed to do really well, but I really didn’t know if I did enough to get me into the Olympics,” Gunnarsdóttir said. “I later got the call that I had made it, 31st out of 32 [who qualified]. I was just insanely happy. I was jumping with joy, quite literally.”

She finished 20th out of 32 in the qualification round. Gunnarsdóttir became Iceland’s first-ever Olympic female shot-putter after setting an Icelandic record in the Icelandic Championships with a throw of 17.91 meters (just under 59 feet).

Rice women’s track and field head coach Jim Bevan said Gunnarsdóttir’s strong work ethic led to a steady rise in her level of performance as a shot-putter. Her throwing distance improved a whopping 6 feet from her first year to her second year at Rice and continued to climb from there.

“She is the poster child for track and field in Iceland, and for all the younger Icelandic athletes to look up to,” Bevan said. “And I think that’s a huge thing to represent the whole country. We were lucky to have someone like Erna come to our program and compete for Rice.” She earned a bachelor’s degree in business and kinesiology in 2022 and a master’s degree in global affairs from Rice in 2023.

“It’s been quite a journey,” Gunnarsdóttir said. “It’s a dream to represent your country, and to do so on such a big stage is incredible.”