Julie Parkes represented Ireland in swimming at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games, competing in the 100 metres butterfly, where she placed 27th overall, and the 200 metres butterfly, where she placed 21st. She was the first woman swimmer from Ulster to be selected to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games.

Both of Parkes’s parents were Irish international swimmers. She learned to swim at the age of three and competed in her first race at five. Aged just 13, she represented Northern Ireland at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada, swimming backstroke in the medley relay as Ireland finished seventh. She earned her first senior Irish international cap at 14 and won her first senior Irish title in 1981.

At the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane she finished 11th in the 100 metres butterfly. She represented Ireland at the 1983 European Championships in Rome and went on to compete for the University of Tennessee in the NCAAs, SEC and USA Championships, holding the university’s 200 metres butterfly record for six years. Across her career she won 40 Irish titles and 60 Irish medals, and held Irish records in butterfly, individual medley and 1500 metres freestyle.

Parkes competed alongside Carol-Ann Heavey on the Irish swimming team at Los Angeles 1984, a friendship between the two that began when they met at the age of ten on a club swimming trip.