Paralympic archery champion Jodie Grinham admits it would be “absolutely wonderful” if her trailblazing exploits help break down barriers for other women attempting to juggle demanding careers with motherhood.
Grinham fired herself into the headlines last summer by becoming the first openly pregnant Paralympic medallist thanks to individual bronze and team gold at Paris 2024.
She endured online abuse in the build-up to the Games and overcame time at a maternity ward in the French capital thinking she may be going into early labour en route to a place in the record books.
Daughter Cleo arrived just over two months later, on November 8 – four weeks earlier than expected.
Grinham, who is currently on maternity leave, aims to be back to her best in time for September’s World Championships in South Korea and also has the next two Paralympic Games – Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 – in her sights.
“I’ve been called a trailblazer and stuff and I am absolutely honoured but for me it was another day at the office,” she told the PA news agency.
“I know I really downplay it because I never wanted it to be like this huge story, this huge thing.
“The world is only here because people are pregnant, so it was just incredible to me that actually it is being perceived as a new thing.
“If I’m the one that needs to break that barrier so then maybe the next Games we have people that aren’t stopping their career because they want to be a mum, and there are now women out there that are going, ‘I can do both’ and they’re not having to sacrifice parts of their life then wonderful, absolutely wonderful.”
Grinham was 28 weeks pregnant when she dramatically defeated compatriot – and defending champion – Phoebe Paterson Pine to finish third in the women’s individual compound before topping the podium in the mixed team event alongside Nathan Macqueen two days later.
She previously won team silver with John Stubbs on her Games debut at Rio 2016.
Grinham was born with a condition called brachysyndactyly. She has a shortened left arm, underdeveloped left shoulder and no fingers and half a thumb on her left hand.
The 31-year-old, who competes with a bespoke bow, was bullied at school because of her disability and faced more negative comments when news of her pregnancy was made public.
“I had people going, ‘that is amazing you should be so proud of yourself’,” said Grinham, who was born in Haverfordwest, Wales before moving to Crawley, West Sussex at a young age.
“But then you also had sadly the social media trolls that would send messages to say that I am doing something really awful or I’m risking the baby or I’m in the highest level of my career and yet I’ve thrown it all away because of the pregnancy.
“I’d get tagged in a post and I have a look and all of a sudden there’s 50 comments and actually five of them are horrendous and it’s like, ‘oh, gosh’.
“I knew I could perform, I just wanted to prove to people that the pregnancy wouldn’t change anything.”
Family planning was previously put on the back burner by Grinham and her partner Christopher Greenan.
The couple postponed parenthood in order to prioritise the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.
Grinham, who was ultimately unable to compete at the Covid-delayed Games in Japan due to injury, suffered multiple miscarriages before son Christian arrived in October 2022.
“People don’t give women enough credit when they’re pregnant,” she said. “I know how much pregnancy changes a woman; I’ve had two pregnancies, very different from each other.
“My son, I took three months off and then slowly got back into it. My daughter is nearly four months and sadly the only reason I’m not back already is because we had a very traumatic birth, for both of us.
“Mentally, I’m absolutely ready. I just need my body to be able to play.
“I’m absolutely loving the new addition. She’s in the stage where she eats and she sleeps; we’re only just starting to get a little bit more alertness. My son absolutely loves her.”
