Paris 2024 Paralympics | Para archery: Jodie Grinham, a Paralympian Merida — challenging preconceptions and smashing glass ceilings with her bow and arrow
On a Magic Monday for ParalympicsGB, Grintham struck gold with her friend of ten years Nathan McQueen. But like so many other medal-winning athletes, being pregnant is not what defines this extraordinary Paralympian
The Invalides Hotel has played host to the Paralympic archery events throughout these Games, but when the focus of the World is not on sport, this magnificent building with its gold leafed dome, is more famous as the last resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte.
What is less well known, is that The Little Corporal, as he is affectionately known by the French people, was instrumental in making archery a national sport in France. Indeed, during the French Revolution, military archery companies were dissolved as symbols of the monarchy, and archers’ assets were systematically annexed by the state. It wasn’t until Emperor Bonaparte seized power in 1804, that these companies were reinstated as sports and recreational societies.
Fast forward to 2024, and there are some 70,000 certified competitive archers in France. What’s more, 35% of them are women. Since the Tokyo 2020 Games, the newly mixed archery events have become part of the Olympic and Paralympic programs, reflecting a genuine push towards greater gender inclusivity in the sport.
Enter Jodie Grinham stage right…
The idea that pregnant women cannot compete at elite level, is one of the most enduring sporting fallacies, and this is despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. Pregnant women who have won Olympic medals include boxers, divers, footballers and rock climbers. In her third-trimester, not only did Grinham hop on a Eurostar to Paris, but she’s been in training at intense levels for months now. The Paralympic Games themselves are the culmination of her hard work. Nothing could have kept Jodie away from her final.
Grinham herself is typically matter-of-fact about the hyperbole surrounding her pregnancy. Speaking to the Guardian after her bronze medal victory, she was adamant that her unborn child was anything but a hindrance. “It’s been a real honor to know that the baby is there and that little support bubble I’ve got in my belly,” she said. Two days later, she seemed more worried about a possible wardrobe malfunction than the future Olympic Taekwondo champion kicking around in her belly, “the little one was definitely more behaved today, so if anything, I was just making sure that my shorts were staying up”, she giggled.
"You’re not just shooting for the sake of it, you’re shooting FOR something"
Grinham clearly enjoys the challenge of the big stage, and she was even seen dancing along to the music between shoots, “this is why I do sport”, she explains, “if I could never train, and only ever compete, that would be absolutely brilliant. But it doesn’t work like that when you’re an athlete. Being here, having the crowds, having the adrenalin, and the meaning behind it — you’re not just shooting for the sake of it, you’re shooting FOR something. That’s where the real enjoyment and the real competition shots come out”.
The Little Corporal can sleep like a baby this week in his velvet-covered mahogany coffin beneath his golden dome. The sport he saved two centuries ago is in very good hands.