Day two of Para archery gave a full crowd all the surprises with loses from India’s dominant Sheetal Devi and France’s fan favourite Julie Rigault Chupin, and a bronze medal match with two Brits facing each other.
The gold medal was less of a shock as Oznur Cure Girdi came into the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games as the reigning world and European individual compound open champion and was a silver medallist in the team event at Tokyo 2020. On 29 August she also set a new world and Paralympic record in Paris, setting her up for success.
Girdi beat Islamic Republic of Iran’s Para archer Fatemeh Hemmati 144-141 to secure her place atop the podium.
Para archery is held at Esplanade des Invalides, next to the 17th-century Hotel des Invalides with a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower, and continues until 5 September.
Brit vs Brit for bronze
Grinham said she wanted to medal at Paris 2024, and with gaining bronze she will still be the first openly pregnant Paralympic athlete to take the podium.
“I knew that if I shot as well as I could, we could bring a medal back, baby or not, and that’s what I’ve done,” Grinham told the IPC.
However, her route to bronze could not have been foreseen. Jodie Grinham and Phoebe Paterson Pine, both of Great Britain, lost their semi-finals to go up against each other in the women’s individual compound open bronze medal match, with Grinham placing on the podium.
“I haven’t won this medal, Phoebe lost it,” said Grinham. “The most precious shot is your last arrow and I knew with my last arrow I needed a 10 to put any pressure on her for her to drop those points.
“It sucks when it’s a teammate, and we both know that is sport.”
Grinham narrowly made it through elimination, beating Polish Para archer Kseniya Markitantova 142-141 and then beating Jane Carla Gogel of Brazil 143-142 in the quarter final. In the semi final she lost to Girdi 143-145.
The bronze medal match saw close competition throughout, even with matching perfect scores in the second end as both competitors shot perfect scores of 10, 10, 10.
“Sometimes sport is just sport. Coming fourth in a Paralympics, I’ll take that,” said Paterson Pine.
“I’m so proud of her, she has defied odds getting here.”
Baby kicking through competition
At 28 weeks pregnant, Grinham has to manage a bit extra than most, sharing that her baby was kicking her throughout competition.
“I am so tired, I’m so hungry, but I’m having so much fun,” Grinham said.
“The baby’s kicking which is great – we got to the 3rd end and I was like ‘Not right now, mummy loves you but we’ll do kickies in a minute.
“The baby hasn’t stopped, it’s like the baby is going ‘What’s going on, it’s really loud, mummy what are you doing?’ But it’s been like a little honour knowing that the baby’s there and just a reminder of the little support bubble that I’ve got in my tummy.”
Devi and Chupin out in surprise losses
Expected to dominate the women’s competition, India’s Sheetal Devi lost to Mariana Zuniga of Chile in the individual compound open 1/8 elimination round.
At only 17 years old, Devi has already seen great success, becoming India’s first female archer without arms to claim a world championship medal with silver in 2023 in Plzen, Czechia. Devi also won individual and team compound gold at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games.
Devi has trained with USA’s armless archer Matt Stutzman, who is keen on supporting her and the others in the division, saying:
“There are three of us in our division for the first time. I tell them all my secrets. It’s about growing the sport.”
Meanwhile, France’s Julie Rigault Chupin plowed through the elimination rounds beating Turkiye’s Sevgi Yorulmaz and Ameera Lee of Australia, but lost in the quarter final 143-140 against Islamic Republic of Iran’s Fatema Hemmati.
Win or lose, Chupin was supported by a proud France crowd, cheering her on between shots with cries of ‘Allez Julie’.
First medal to China
Minyi Chen of China retained her title in the women’s individual W1 event to gain the first gold medal of Para archery.
In an exact mirror of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Chen faced Sarka Musilova Pultar of the Czech Republic, beating her 136-129.
The two know each other well now, both in competition and in community.
“In normal life, she’s very outgoing and is a good friend with me,” said Chen
“She’s being much more competitive than Tokyo. I never imagined that I could win this title again. It’s a huge happiness for me.”
Since Tokyo 2020 Chen has claimed individual bronze and team gold at the 2023 World Championships, as well as Asian Para Games individual gold and team silver.
