Jacob Heilveil

Jacob Heilveil competed in the 1,500 metre wheelchair demonstration event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Heilveil competed at the 2000 and 2004 Paralympics in multiple events. He also competed at the Wheelchair Racing World Championships in 2002 and 2006.

Heilveil lost the use of his legs as an infant when he contracted polio. He was born in Korea but was adopted by a US family in Hawai’i when he was 11-years-old. Heilveil settled in Boulder, Colorado where he taught and coached wheelchair athletes as part of Boulder’s EXPAND Programme, which was Colorado’s first Paralympic sports club. He appeared as a wheelchair racer in an episode of the TV series “Northern Exposure.”