Anna Grimaldi (born 12 February 1997) is a New Zealand para-athlete, primarily competing in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and sprint events. She has won two gold medals at Paralympics in the women's long jump: at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in Rio de Janeiro, and at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

in Tokyo.

Personal life

Grimaldi was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

to Tony and Di Grimaldi, and has one sister, Abby. She was born with a withered right forearm and no functional right hand. She attended Bayfield High School in Dunedin; she played

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

for the school and in her final year was a sports

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

. Grimaldi studied

quantity surveying A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. Qualified professional quantity surveyors are known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) in the UK and Cer ...

Otago Polytechnic Otago Polytechnic was a public New Zealand tertiary education institute, centred in Dunedin with additional campuses in Cromwell and Auckland. Otago Polytechnic provided career-focused education and training, offering a range of New Zealand accr ...

Athletics career

Grimaldi started para-athletics after attending a Paralympic talent identification event in October 2013. She initially was reluctant to attend, having had no formal athletics training and fearing she would be "shocking". She is classified

T47 T47 may refer to: * T47 (classification), a disability sport classification * Cessna T-47, an American trainer aircraft * Slingsby T.47, a British glider * T-47 airspeeder, a fictional vehicle in the ''Star Wars'' franchise * T 47-class destroye ...

for track events and long jump, and F46 for field events. She won her first international competition medal, the bronze in the women's long jump T47, at the

2015 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The event was the 7th edition of what is now known as the World Para ...

in Doha, Qatar. She set a personal best of 5.41 m, while her second-best 5.38 m secured her the bronze medal over Russian

Alexandra Moguchaya Aleksandra Moguchaia (born 18 August 1990) is a Russian para-athlete who represented Russia at the Paralympic Games. Career Moguchaia made her international debut for Russia at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. Moguchaia represented Russian Paralymp ...

on countback. Grimaldi also placed fifth in the women's 200 metres T47 final. Her long jump distance at the 2015 World Championships ranked her in the top five in the long jump T47 during the Paralympics qualifying period, earning her a slot at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. She was officially confirmed to represent New Zealand at the Paralympics on 23 May 2016. At the Paralympics, she won the gold medal in the women's long jump T47 with a distance of 5.62 m, breaking her personal best by 21 cm. She also placed fourth in the women's 100 metres T47 final, and competed in the 200 metres T47 where she was disqualified in the heat for a lane infringement. At the

2017 World Para Athletics Championships The 2017 World Para Athletics Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held at London Stadium in London from 14 to 23 July 2017. It wa ...

, Grimaldi ran the 200 m heats before pulling out of the 200 m final and 100 m due to a recurring foot injury in order to concentrate on the long jump. She placed fourth in the long jump, missing the medals by one centimetre. Returning to New Zealand after the 2017 championships, Grimaldi's foot injury was discovered to be a stress fracture in her left

navicular bone The navicular bone is a small bone found in the feet of most mammals. Human anatomy The navicular bone in humans is one of the tarsal bones, found in the foot. Its name derives from the human bone's resemblance to a small boat, caused by the ...

. She subsequently missed the entire 2018 season. At the

2019 World Para Athletics Championships The 2019 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic track and field event organised by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 7 to 15 November 2019 ...

, Grimaldi placed second with a distance of 5.50 m, two centimetres behind

Kiara Rodriguez Kiara Briggitte Rodriguez (born 12 December 2002) is an Ecuadorian Paralympic athlete who competes in sprint and long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to lea ...

of Ecuador. At the 2021 Otago Athletics Championships Grimaldi set a personal best of 5.91 m, ten centimetres short of the T47 world record and placing her second in the overall (able-bodied and para) annual national rankings. At the delayed

, Grimaldi won the gold medal in the women's long jump T47 with a distance of 5.76 m, setting a new Paralympic Games record.

Awards

Grimaldi was appointed a Member of the

New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, for her services to athletics.

Statistics

Personal bests

Long jump seasonal bests

Source: Athletics New Zealand Records and Rankings

References

External links

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Anna Grimaldi
at

Athletics New Zealand Athletics New Zealand (ANZ) is the national governing body for athletics in New Zealand. This includes responsibility for Track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. History The organisation was founded in 1887 as the ...

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archive

Meet Our Paralympians: Anna Grimaldi
– Attitude Live video profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimaldi, Anna Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Living people Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand female long jumpers New Zealand female sprinters Paralympic athletes for New Zealand Paralympic gold medalists for New Zealand Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes from Dunedin 1997 births Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships