Jodie Grinham makes history by winning para-archery bronze while pregnant

Jodie Grinham took home the bronze medal in the para-archery event at the Paris Games and is thought to be the first openly pregnant woman to win a Paralympic medal.

In the end, Grinham defeated defending champion and fellow Brit and ParalympicsGB teammate Phoebe Paterson Pine by winning the shoot-off (142-141) at the Esplanade des Invalides - all while seven months pregnant with her second child.

This is Grinham's first individual Paralympic medal after she previously won compound mixed team silver at the 2016 Rio Games.

"I'm really proud of myself, I've had difficulties and it's not been easy," Grinham said, as she has been "in and out of hospital" in Paris ahead of the competition this week.

"But as long as I’m healthy and baby’s healthy, I knew I could compete. I knew if I shot as well as I could, baby or not, I could come back as a medal."

The 31-year-old went on to describe how much her baby was moving around during her all-important performance.

“The baby hasn’t stopped [moving], the baby is saying, what are you doing? It’s been a real honour to know that the baby is there and that little support bubble I’ve got in my belly," she said.

“It was really starting to worry me that the baby was going to move when I was at full draw and it was going to affect my shot, but my coach and I spent a long time doing little pregnancy prep with her moving me and the bump so I could get used to that feeling.

"Even during matches today up at full draw I acknowledged it, mummy loves you, I’ll cuddle you in a minute, then carried on doing my processes. Then I gave him a little stroke afterwards and said it’s all fine, I know it’s a lot of noise, a lot of heartbeat.”

Grinham's attention now turns to the mixed team compound event with Nathan MacQueen on Monday (September 2).

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