Written by Alex Seftel
NAL Premiership Round 3 – Birmingham – Saturday 3rd August
Timetable and results on OpenTrack
“I hadn’t ever thought about winning gold. I didn’t think it was a possibility,” says Anna Grimaldi.
“It was such a shock. I just remember being in total disbelief.”
The 27-year-old from New Zealand recalls the “crazy” moment she won the first of her two Paralympic T47 long jump titles in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Fast forward eight years and she has been named as one of her country’s flagbearers for Paris 2024.
Grimaldi has been preparing for her third Paralympics by training and competing in the UK.
She will be competing as a guest in the final match of the National Athletics League season in Birmingham on Saturday.
“I’m really excited for Paris,” she said. “I can feel that the energy is building, even on social media for the Olympic Games, it’s really starting to ramp up my excitement for competing.”
Grimaldi, who is from Dunedin, grew up playing netball, basketball and running some cross country, before being asked to attend a talent identification camp in 2013.
“I’d only briefly heard about the Paralympics around 2012, but not much. I was then 16.”
It was recommended that she try long jump and sprints, which her T47 classification offers for athletes with a limb deficiency or lack of range of movement below the elbow.
Three years after that camp, she won the Paralympic title in Brazil with a best of 5.62 metres.
“I was definitely not the best on paper, I just ended up having the best day out of everyone,” she says.
“It has changed my life so much. It challenged me quite a bit as well, feeling like I didn’t really deserve it, or I wasn’t the best, did I belong?
“Mostly it’s been an epic journey. I remember being so over the moon.”
Anna successfully defended her title – this time with a Games record of 5.72 metres – under different circumstances in Tokyo.
“My first one was like ‘get your bearings and take it all in’, the second one, I was plagued with anxiety about performing again.
“All of the restrictions around Covid made it really hard to enjoy, whereas this one, I think it going to be one of those cool experiences where I feel really relaxed and like I want to do well, but not that its a necessity for me to do well to be happy.”
Being a flagbearer for the opening ceremony alongside swimmer Cameron Leslie will also be a memorable experience in the French capital.
“It’s an incredible honour to be asked to do that, it made me really emotional,” says Anna.
“I can’t wait to carry the flag with so much pride. Just to be able to be seen in that space just shows the progression in my career in the accolades, but also me as a person, and that’s really special.”
Grimaldi, who studied quantity surveying and has worked in the construction industry, still trains in Dunedin, but is naturally building up to the Games in Europe.
“I’ve been in Loughborough for two weeks,” she adds.
“We were looking for another competition and this one looked like a good fit for me. I’m really excited to come and compete.”
