A British archer has become the first pregnant athlete on a Paralympic podium.
Jodie Grinham won the bronze medal in the women’s individual compound competition. She is 7 months pregnant.
Saturday’s bronze medal match-up was against another British archer. Grinham entered the fifth and final end trailing her opponent, but scored a near-perfect 29 points and beat her competitor with a final score of 142-141.
Grinham said her baby was kicking her throughout the competition, but she was encouraged by “the little support bubble that I’ve got in my tummy.”
Grinham was born with no fingers and half a thumb on her left hand. Her first Paralympics was the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, where she won the silver medal in the mixed team compound competition.
Grinham had decided against trying to conceive through Rio 2016 due to the Zika virus and related risks. She went through three miscarriages before she gave birth to her son prematurely in 2022.
Grinham said, “We lost three trying to get our son. You feel alone. You feel like it’s only you.” She says there should be more discussion on the topic for the sake of other women athletes who are struggling and need support.
She notes that she is not going to hold off having a family anymore for the sake of her career. Grinham had a medical team with her in Paris, including a nurse and a midwife.
Grinham said, “Being disabled and being pregnant is hard enough, being an athlete and being pregnant is hard enough, combining all of it. It’s been a journey.”