By Jake Maddaford
Jodie Grinham and a host of other Welsh star of the Paris Parlympic Games have been honoured with a celebrations night, hosted by Disability Sport Wales.
Grinham – who made headlines around the world when she became the first pregnant women to win a Paralympic medal – spoke of overcoming a difficult year before she won gold and bronze in para-archery this summer.
The Haverfordwest archer was one of a number of Welsh medal winners for Para GB to attend the event at the Coldra Hotel in Newport at the weekend.
“It’s been a very rough year,” admitted Grinham.
“At the start of the year I had bacterial meningitis, so I was in hospital for all of February and March, and we didn’t know if I was going to be able to pick my bow up again.
“Then, we found out I was pregnant, so we had to go through selection, but we hadn’t announced my pregnancy yet.
“I wanted to show that I’m still an athlete, pregnant or not, and I got the results that I knew that I could get.”
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Disability Sport Wales hosted the dinner to honour the 22 Welsh athletes who competed at the 2024 Paralympics.
The athletes gathered to celebrate their achievements in Paris, share stories, and hear from others how much hard work they put in to get to the event.
The audience also heard from Wales’ Matt Bush, who won gold in para-Taekwondo.
“It was awesome,” said Bush.
“The best part was having everyone there; we don’t really have people with us, usually.
“The atmosphere was unbelievable, the people and Paris as a whole was amazing so I have no complaints.”
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The evening started with a speech from Alex Ashton, the chair of Wales West Housing who are a sponsor of Disability Sport Wales.
“We are so proud to support Disability Sport Wales,” said Ashton.
“Their mission to influence, include and inspire aligns closely with our own.
“The Paralympics are a wonderful opportunity for people from all over the world to compete on its biggest stage.
“Tonight is a chance to celebrate those achievements.”
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There were formal awards presented, too – including a rising star award, won by 17-year-old para swimmer, Meghan Willis.
She said: “It means a lot, it’s nice to win something like this. I’m incredibly thankful and proud.”
The other nominees were para-rower Rebecca Knight and shot putter Jac Sheehan.
Para swimming gold and silver medallist Rhys Darby came up on stage to present the award, but also spoke about his experience in Paris and what it meant to him.
“It was quite overwhelming to be honest,” said Darby.
“It felt really nice to be involved. We’re all under 20 in our relay group and we were competing against 24–25-year-olds, so it was quite impressive.”
“It felt better to get a silver medal in the individual event, the gold was great, but it was a team event, so to get an individual medal meant a lot.”
Willis will no doubt be looking to follow in Darby’s footsteps when the next Paralympic Games in in Los Angeles come around in four years’ time.
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