On the tenth anniversary of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, we toast the most successful Games in the modern era for the NZ Paralympic Team, by speaking to a trio of gold medallists.
Paralympian #166 Dame Sophie Pascoe PLY DNZM
For Dame Sophie Pascoe, the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games cemented her status as a bona fide New Zealand sporting superstar.
Inside the Rio Olympic Aquatics Stadium, the Cantabrian claimed three gold and two silver medals to surpass Paralympian #13 Eve Rimmer BEM and become New Zealand’s most decorated Paralympian.
“To take that 15th medal and go one clear of Eve was not something I strived towards, but I do remember it was a very special moment to be part of history,” recalls Dame Sophie. “It was groundbreaking for the Paralympic Movement, the NZ Paralympic Team and Paralympics New Zealand.”
Aged 23 at Rio 2016, Dame Sophie was at the peak of her powers. Having already amassed 10 medals – six gold and four silver – across the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games, she arrived in Brazil with high expectations.
“At that time in my career, I was very outcome focused,” admits Dame Sophie. “I was set to compete in five events, and I wanted a medal in each of them. For me, it was about executing PBs, which I knew would enable me to podium.”
She recalls Rio as a vibrant and colourful Games and was excited to be part of a special NZ Paralympic Team that would go on to win 21 medals and finish top of the medals-per-capita table.
“I was part of an amazing group, who became like family,” she explains. “We were very close. I remember celebrating the other medal moments with the Team. It was very special.”
Sharing a room in the Paralympic Village with Paralympian #173 Rebecca Dubber PLY, #174 Mary Fisher MNZM and #201 Tupou Neiufi PLY, she also recalls the many laughs the roommates shared throughout the Games.
Facing a gruelling schedule of five events in five days, Dame Sophie opened her campaign with silver in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S10 behind Canada’s Aurelie Rivard. While she had hoped for gold, her performance provided an important confidence boost.
“I was proud of the time (27.72),” she says. “The 50m freestyle was not my favoured event, and it set me up for the rest of the week.”
The gold rush began the following day when she claimed a decisive victory in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S10, stopping the clock in 1:07.04.
“I was ecstatic to win gold, and I was stoked to stand on top of the podium and hear the national anthem,” she recalls. “I felt I executed the race okay, but as an athlete you are never content and I was disappointed not to PB.”
The following day she delivered a spectacular performance in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM10. Competing in her favourite event, Dame Sophie executed a superb race to set a world record of 2:24.90.
“My style of racing is to go out hard, so to do that, hold on and be able to break the world record was special for me,” she adds.
Dame Sophie made it three gold medals in three days when she powered to victory in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S10 in 1:02.65.
Competing in her favourite discipline, she won by more than four seconds. Yet even after another dominant performance, the hugely driven Paralympic legend was not entirely satisfied.
“I loved racing butterfly; it was my favourite discipline. I’d been number one since 2009 and although I was stoked to touch the wall first, I was slightly disappointed to have missed the world record by 0.02.”
The Kiwi icon completed her Rio 2016 campaign with silver in the Women’s 100m Freestyle S10 behind Rivard – a performance that saw her surpass Eve Rimmer as New Zealand’s most decorated Paralympian.
She celebrated the achievement with family and friends at a Brazilian barbecue, but beyond her personal haul of five medals, Dame Sophie recognised the wider significance of what Rio represented.
“Following London 2012, Rio 2016 was a defining Games,” she explains. “The recognition that the Paralympians received was on another level, which led to great sponsorship of Paralympians and much greater media exposure.”
Paralympian #174 Mary Fisher MNZM
For Mary Fisher, winning gold at Rio 2016 confirmed that the success she had enjoyed at London 2012 was no fluke. Yet for the vision-impaired Para swimmer, her second Paralympic Games was about far more than chasing medals and glory.
Four years earlier, on her Paralympic debut, Mary had surpassed others’ expectations to win one gold, two silver and one bronze medal in London. Rio, however, was to prove a very different experience.
“To compete at multiple Games showed I could maintain a high level of racing and compared to my debut I enjoyed the multi-sport aspect and what a Paralympic Games means globally,” she explains.
Mary had an outstanding 2015 World Para Swimming Championships, winning five medals, including three golds. In the 18 months leading into Rio 2016, she also relocated from her Wellington home to Auckland to work more closely with NZ head coach, Jon Shaw.
The change in circumstances was not entirely smooth, but as Rio approached Mary held the same expectations she had for any major competition.
“It is always to deliver personal bests. That’s what I trained and prepared for,” she explains. “You can’t ask more than that and secondly you hope it’ll equate to medals. I also have no idea where anyone else is when racing so I had to be internally driven!”
Away from the pool, she vividly recalls the noise and energy of life in the Paralympic Village. Balconies were draped in national flags, music blared from the various apartments and Mary immersed herself in the atmosphere.
“We were rubbing shoulders with people from all over the globe, with different impairments competing in a range of Para sports, with unique stories of how they became a Paralympian.”
The NZ Paralympic Team excelled at Rio 2016, and Mary sensed that the Para swimming team – which collectively claimed ten medals – was a particularly special group.
“The swim team at that time were in a strong space and it did feel like we were building momentum,” she recalls. “There was a critical mass of Para swimmers on top of the world in their events. It was exciting.”
The atmosphere at the pool had a uniquely Brazilian flavour, too. Mary remembers the competition unfolding amid a “party atmosphere”, with spectators and volunteers wholeheartedly embracing the Paralympic Games.
Mary opened her programme with her favoured event, the Women’s 100m Backstroke S11, and produced the perfect start to her gruelling five-event schedule.
Stopping the clock in a world-record time of 1:17.96 to claim gold was validation of the success she had enjoyed four years earlier in London.
For a vision-impaired Para athlete competing in blackened goggles, however, there is no immediate confirmation that she has won. Mary had to wait a few minutes to discover the result.
“There is a wall of noise at the end of the race, and I can’t see the scoreboard,” she explains. “I was hopeful I’d won but not quite sure. Following a double whistle to get out of the pool, we then hand over the blackened goggles for the officials to check. It is only then that the tapper (the assistant who uses a long pole with a soft tip to signal to vision-impaired swimmers when they are approaching the end of the pool) told me the result.
“To start off a second Paralympic Games with gold in a world record was really special.”
From the high of winning gold in her opening event, however, came dissatisfaction in her remaining races.
Mary finished fourth in both the Women’s 100m Freestyle S11 and 400m Freestyle S11, and sixth in the 50m Freestyle S11 and 200m Individual Medley SM11 – the event in which she had won gold in London 2012.
After a strong lead-up to the Games, Mary was disappointed to not produce personal bests across the latter four events which would’ve resulted in other medals. She was particularly frustrated by her 100m Freestyle performance after feeling excellent during the warm-up.
She reflects on her own Rio 2016 with “mixed emotions” but remains proud to have played her part in a Games that helped advance the Paralympic Movement through greater global television coverage and a huge growth in social media engagement.
With the passage of time, the frustrations of Rio have eased. Looking back, Mary is proud of her achievements and, perhaps most importantly, what the experience represented.
“Rio reminded me the value of teammates, wellbeing and how important feeling connected to Aotearoa New Zealand is for me and others. It was wonderful to come home, share stories and the gold with family, friends and communities and to thank them for their support.”
Paralympian #195 Anna Grimaldi PLY MNZM
For Paralympian Anna Grimaldi, striking gold at Rio 2016 opened the gateway not only to a glorious Para sport career, but to the Paralympic Movement and Paralympic Family that have helped define who she is.
Aged just 19, the Dunedin-based jumper and sprinter produced one of the most heartwarming moments for the NZ Paralympic Team when her sixth-round leap propelled her to gold in the Women’s Long Jump T47.
Her surprise success in Rio set the trajectory for a hugely successful Paralympic career, with Anna going on to defend her title at Tokyo 2020 before adding a third Paralympic gold medal at Paris 2024 in the Women’s 200m T47.
Yet while winning gold unquestionably changed the course of her sporting career, her abiding memory of Rio 2016 is the wider sense of belonging she discovered by competing on the Paralympic stage for the first time.
“Rio introduced me to the Paralympic Movement and Paralympic Family, which is where I always most feel at home,” she explains. “It showed me the power of community and the power of Para sport in all its glory. Every time I return to the Paralympic Games, it is something really special.”
Anna first engaged in Para athletics at a Paralympics New Zealand Talent Identification camp in 2013. Her rise was meteoric. Just two years later, she announced herself on the global stage by winning bronze in the Women’s Long Jump T47 at the 2015 World Para Athletics Championships in Doha.
In 2016, she was selected for Rio.
“It was cool to be part of such a young team, where so many were making their Paralympic debuts,” she explains. “We all developed such a close bond. I was in an environment that will probably never be replicated again. I’ll never be that Anna again, with no expectations on her. It was amazing to be part of a community of people I’d never had the chance to experience as a disabled person growing up.”
Anna vividly recalls the joy and pride she felt walking into the stadium for her first event, the Women’s Long Jump T47. Simply stepping onto the Paralympic stage and becoming a Paralympian was a profound moment.
“I felt emotional, and arguably it was even more special for me than becoming a Paralympic gold medallist because it has helped shape who I am. I’ll never have that same feeling of excitement again of first becoming a Paralympian.”
Having won bronze at the 2015 World Para Athletics Championships, Anna believed a podium finish was within reach in Rio. Gold, however, seemed beyond her expectations given the strength of the field and her relative inexperience.
She opened with 5.34m in round one to sit in provisional bronze before a personal best of 5.43m with her second attempt elevated the teenage Kiwi into silver, where she remained until round five.
That was when Australia’s Carlee Beattie leapt 5.57m to relegate Anna back into bronze. Anna then fouled her own fifth-round attempt, but a timely comment from team-mate and Paralympian #200 Rory McSweeney proved motivational.
“He told me I’d jumped well, even though I’d fouled, which gave me a lot of confidence.”
In the final round, fourth-placed Angeline Lanza of France failed to surpass Anna’s mark, guaranteeing the Kiwi at least a bronze medal. At that point, something switched.
Her competitive instincts kicked in and she “locked in” for one final effort.
“I ran as hard as I could, jumped and when I got out of the pit I smiled because I knew I’d won at least bronze. I didn’t know whether it was a good jump. It was like a slow-motion moment. Then it popped up that I’d jumped 5.62m – which was a PB – and I celebrated.
“Then when I saw my name on the giant scoreboard and that I’d moved into first, I totally lost it. I was so overcome with emotion.”
Gold was confirmed a few minutes later when neither Beattie nor long-time leader Yunidis Castillo of Cuba could better Anna’s mark.
She later finished fourth in the Women’s 100m T47 final, a “bittersweet” result, before being disqualified from the Women’s 200m T47 for a lane infringement.
Anna describes Rio 2016 as a “rollercoaster of a campaign”. But beyond the results, medals and unexpected triumph in the long jump, her debut Paralympic Games gave her something arguably even more significant: a sense of belonging.
For the first time, Anna had found her herd – a community that helped shape her identity and brought her an immense sense of joy.
***The LA28 Paralympic Games are next for the NZ Paralympic Team. Continue to follow Paralympics New Zealand as we report on Para athletes and Paralympians on their Road to LA. Show your support by backing the Team or donating.
