Archer Jodie Grinham stepped onto the Paralympics winners’ podium while seven months pregnant on Saturday night and said she hoped her achievement might inspire many other mothers-to-be.
Grinham, who took bronze when her British opponent failed to land a final arrow, spent last weekend in a Paris hospital, after having concerns about her baby was not moving.
But after relentless monitoring of the baby’s heart and a training regime including preparing for its unexpected movements during competition, she declared last night that she would always be able to tell her as-yet unborn baby that he was ‘the youngest child on a podium.
Grinham, 31, said her message to any other expectant mother was: ‘Just do what you want to. If you are happy and healthy and the baby is healthy and safe, just keep doing it. There is no stigma.
‘The stereotype of things is completely irrelevant. If you feel you can go out and do it. If you want to jog or go to the gym, it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t have an effect on you or the baby. If your doctor says it’s fine, then go and do it.’
The athlete lost three pregnancies before she and her partner had a son, Christian, now two, with whom she went into early labour at 28 weeks. The archer had felt this baby moving through a tough afternoon of competition which saw her battle to a semi-final which she lost.
She said: ‘It was really starting to worry me that the baby’s going to move and I’m going to be at full draw and it’s going to affect my shot because I’m really worried.
‘My coach and I spent a long time doing little pregnancies preps – of her moving me and moving the bump so I could get use that feeling. So even when I was shooting on Saturday, I would be at full draw and would feel that sensation. You acknowledge it and go, “I know you’re there, mummy loves you, I’ll cuddle you in a minute” or whatever you want to say to yourself. In that moment, you carry on with your process.’
The athlete was born with a short left arm and no fingers and half a thumb on her left hand. It had been more difficult to hold the bow here because of the pregnancy, she added.
‘You go through like standing really, really straight and all of a sudden you start moving. I do have this sway, so I’m having to balance the bow out to stop the sway. My shoes have to be really flat otherwise I’m rocking and rolling. It changes daily. Baby might be in my back today, it might be really forwards. Like “What are you doing?!”’
Grinham’s hold on the bronze model game against GB teammate Phoebe Pine Paterson was in the balance, with her opponent needing to land a 10 to take the medal, with her final arrow, or a nine to tie. But Paterson only managed to hit eight.
‘I was shocked by Phoebe’s arrow,’ Grinham said. ‘We have shot together for a long time. I was not expecting her to shoot an eight. It was not in my head.’ Paterson said of her rival : ‘I am so proud of her. She defied so many odds.’
It has been a tough 12 months for the west Wales competitor, who after a miscarriage last year contracted bacterial meningitis, which left her in hospital for three weeks. But she says she has no intention of retiring from her sport.
‘She and her partner have already been discussing a family trip to Brisbane, where he 2032 Olympics are to be held.
She competes in the mixed competition in Paris on Monday. ‘I then get the train back home and I’ve our UK finals – so I’m going back, going to do that and then I’ll be on maternity leave,’ she said.
‘I’ll probably come back February/March next year to get ready for the world championships. I knew if I shot as well as I could, baby or not, I could bring a medal back.’