LIFELONG FRIENDS
SHE’S ! E L B A P P O T S UN Do something that terrifies you – that’s the message Dio Old Girl Kimberley Chambers (1992) delivered to a Full School Assembly held in her honour on 9 May at the Dawn Jones Sports Centre. Kim travelled from her home in San Francisco to be presented with the Diocesan 2019 Alumna Merita award for her incredible achievements as an open-water swimmer, philanthropist and conservationist. Facing fears is certainly something Kim has put into action in her life. Following a terrible accident in 2007, she almost had to have her leg amputated. After being warned she would never walk again, Kim embarked on two years of physical therapy and took up swimming to regain her strength. This led to a series of deep-water swim challenges around the world. Today Kim is recognised as one of the world’s top
marathon ocean-water swimmers. She holds four world records and is among just 15 people – and the only New Zealander – to complete the Oceans Seven Challenge of the planet’s most difficult stretches of water. During these events, wearing nothing but a swimsuit, cap and goggles, Kim has encountered poisonous jellyfish, sharks, strong currents and frigid waters. In 2015, Kim became the first woman to swim from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge – a distance of 30 miles through the most sharkinhabited stretch of water in the world. The 2017 documentary Kim Swims follows her endeavour. Less than a month later, she and five teammates from Night Train Swimmers broke the world record for the longest continuous swim in history. Over five days and nights for 91 hours, they swam 500km non-stop. In 2016, the same team swam across the Dead Sea from Jordan to Israel, and in 2017 they swam from the USA to Mexico.
Earlier this year, Kim was officially inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. She is the first New Zealand woman to achieve this honour. Born in Te Kuiti, Kim attended Dio from 1988 to 1992, moving to San Francisco when she was 17. She says, “Without a doubt, the nurturing environment fostered here at Dio made me the woman I am today, and for that I am very grateful.” Since leaving Dio, Kim has continued to live the Ut Serviamus motto. She’s raised more than $1.7 million for charities supporting veteran causes such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in honour of her grandfather who fought in both the Africa and Italy campaigns of WWII, and also for the Semper Fi Fund and the Colibri Centre for Human Rights. Kim also helps raise awareness for the pollution watchdog the San Francisco Baykeeper. She now works full-time as a public speaker and is writing her first book. DIO TODAY
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