September 3, 2024 | 11:53am
MANILA, Philippines — British archer Jodie Grinham made history in Paris as the first Paralympian to win a medal while openly pregnant.
Grinham beat her compatriot and friend Phoebe Paterson Pine, the gold medalist from Tokyo 2020, in the Women’s Individual Compound shoot-off for the bronze medal last September 1.
The 31-year-old pink-haired archer was seven months pregnant when she won the medal.
She told the official Paralympic Games website that she had to ask her baby to stop kicking during the latter part of the match.
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“The baby hasn’t stopped, it’s like the baby is going, ‘What’s going on, it’s really loud, mommy, what are you doing?’ But it’s been like a little honor knowing that the baby’s there and just a reminder of the little support bubble that I’ve got in my tummy,” Grinham also said.
The message she wanted to send was not that a pregnant woman was at the Games but could compete at the highest level and get a podium finish.
Grinham later won the gold medal in the Mixed Team Compound event with her teammate Nathan Macqueen, besting her silver medal finish from Rio 2016.
“All I wanted to do at the end was jump up and down and cry and scream and shout,” Grinham told BBC Wales. “But being heavily pregnant, realistically the best thing to do was crouch down and take a second and then I could give hugs and things.”
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