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Just under a year ago Anna Grimaldi completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in New Zealand Paralympics history. Grimaldi joins Michael Burgess to look back and explain how it changed her life.

If there was such a thing as a podium certainty at the Paris Paralympics, it was Anna Grimaldi in the long jump. She was the two-time defending champion in the T-47 category and ranked second in the world, fresh off a silver at the World Championships three months earlier.

But things didn’t go to plan. It was a nervy evening, as she fouled her first attempt, then pulled out of her third. She followed with a 5.75m, which was at least enough to hold on to bronze, heading into the last round. Then the shock, as unheralded Danish athlete Bjork Norremark pulled out a big personal best – 5.76m – to edge ahead.

“It was an interesting time because it wasn’t like it happened early in the competition and I was fighting my way back,” recalls Grimaldi. “It happened the jump before me in the final round. So I had one shot to get it right, but it was like whiplash. I wasn’t jumping very well, so I was disappointed anyway, but I thought, ‘Okay, I’m still in bronze, this is great. And then it was, ‘Oh my God, now I’m in fourth’. It was shock more than anything. I felt numb. I knew I could jump better than that.”

Instead of being in the zone – after a great build-up – Grimaldi had finished fourth by 1cm. Her anguish was obvious as she digested the result. She had arrived expecting a medal and perhaps hoping to become the third Kiwi to achieve three successive golds in track and field at the Paralympics, after the win from nowhere in Rio, then the imperious triumph in Tokyo. Now there was nothing.

Anna Grimaldi struggled during the T-47 long jump in Paris. Photo / Getty Images

“It felt like a kick in the face to the great work and trainings outside of the Games,” says Grimaldi. “It was one of those comps where I couldn’t get it together. I felt like I was in another place, like it was happening to me rather than me bringing my best self to it.”

Grimaldi tried to relax that night after an exhausting day. She spoke to friends and family on the phone and chatted with teammates and her partner, Australian Paralympian Jarryd Clifford. She also – somewhat counterintuitively, she admits – looked through social media.

“It’s usually not something most athletes do before they compete, but I had been getting a lot of messages,” explains Grimaldi. “When I saw the comments, I was blown away. It wasn’t what I was expecting and it was really beautiful. Initially, I was worried because I was the two-time reigning champion. I was a bit nervous about the feedback but there was an outpouring of love and support from people I knew, but also people I didn’t know. I had more messages than ever, even for the previous gold medals. People saying that they hated seeing me upset and tomorrow was a new day. It really lifted me.”

Still, it was a challenge to emotionally reset ahead of the 200m. Grimaldi had been in the village almost two weeks and had already competed twice, taking bronze in the 100m T-47 final (her first Paralympics track medal) and had burned a lot of nervous energy. And she was a raw 200m runner, though she took heart from a chat with a fellow competitor in the call room.

“She was saying, ‘This could be my last race for the year and I just want to give it my all’. And I thought, ‘Oh, she’s right. I’m tired, I’m sore but this could be my last one and I want to make the most of it’.”

That showed, as Grimaldi won her heat, to storm into the final. That performance made her a contender, but she tried not to think about what could happen.

“I just wanted to run as fast as I could and hopefully not die towards the line,” explains Grimaldi.

She was nervous – in front of a massive crowd at Stade de France – but also strangely relaxed. Grimaldi started well and led across the first half of the race but didn’t think it would last.

“I was still in disbelief that winning was a possibility,” says the Dunedin product. “I remember coming off the bend and thinking, ‘This is where they’re going to catch me, they’re just going to mow me down on the straight’. And I just remember going, ‘Okay, where are they?’”

Grimaldi clocked herself on the big screen, before the realisation that she wasn’t going to be caught.

“It was probably about 30m to go,” says Grimaldi. “I was like, oh my God, I’ve not died yet. I’ve got enough to get to the line.”

Anna Grimaldi couldn't hide her elation at the end of the 200m race. Photo / OIS / Adrian Dennis

It was extraordinary. Grimaldi had limited international experience in the event but smashed her pre-Games personal best by more than a second with the 24.72s time. The celebrations were profound, as she saluted the packed grandstands on a victory lap.

“People were standing up, clapping for me, waving from the top and blowing kisses at me,” says Grimaldi. “It was incredible.”

But the best was yet to come, after the stadium cleared out at the end of the session.

“I took a photo with someone who recognised me and then a line formed,” says Grimaldi. “I probably took 100 photos afterwards. Loads of people sent me the pictures of me with their kids. It was beautiful looking back on that and going, wow.”

On the train back to Paris there were more requests.

“People were coming up asking, ‘Can I get a photo with you?’” says Grimaldi. “It was insane. I’ve never experienced anything like that and just to know that these kids getting photos are going to grow up having a different perception of disabilities than I had growing up. They are going to see the positives, that there are loads of opportunities for people with disabilities in sport and outside of sport. It gives me goosebumps, even thinking how much the Paralympic movement changes the lives of people with disabilities but hopefully changes it for people without them too.”

Grimaldi celebrated at a small Parisian cafe, before a long-awaited trip around Europe with Clifford going to Greece, Turkey and Italy. It was the perfect chance to decompress before heading home as New Zealand’s only gold medallist from the Paralympics. Grimaldi had come a long way after fearing she was at the end of the road after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“[Back then] I wasn’t actually looking forward to the next four years,” says Grimaldi. “I was dreading getting back into training and already thinking Paris will be my last one. This time around I was really excited about getting back out there and trying for Los Angeles.”

Whatever happens over the next cycle, Paris will be hard to top, given the rollercoaster of emotions.

“The high was obviously the 200m - and the 100m was pretty damn special as well,” says Grimaldi, who remains philosophical about her tough long jump fate. “I’ve come fourth by 1cm before and been leading on the world rankings by a mile, and I’ve also won by not many centimetres, like [3cm] in Rio and been nowhere near the rankings. It was a classic sport lesson; it’s on the day, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done before or what they’ve done before, it’s just a clean slate and it’s something I’ve had to get used to, good and bad, in my career.”

Michael Burgess has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America’s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast.