That unrivalled joy plastered across her face grew bigger as she was crowned the T47 200m Paralympic champion in front of a pumping Stade de France stadium yesterday.
The Dunedin athlete won New Zealand’s only Paralympic gold after she blitzed home in a 24.72sec personal best to set an Oceania record.
"I’m blown away. Blown away with the support from everyone back home and it sort of spurred me on.
"It’s just been a crazy 48 hours, to be honest.
"I’m really proud of the time that I ran.”
Silver medallist Brittni Mason, of the United States, was well shy with 25.18sec and Sasirawan Inthachot, of Thailand, won bronze in 25.20sec.
Grimaldi, who smashed her Oceania record of 25.09sec from the heat, glanced at the big screen as she ran down the home stretch and knew gold was in reach.
"That really just edged me on even more," she said.
"I was just like ‘oh my god, I’m in the lead’ and then to be able to hold on until the end of the race was incredibly special.
"To come off the bend in the lead, I just knew I wasn’t going to die — I knew that I was going to make it to the line.
"It’s hard to believe, actually."
Grimaldi seldom races the 200m, so to win gold, and bronze in the 100m, in her secondary events was amazing.
From the agony of fourth in the long jump — after being the Paralympic champion in Rio and Tokyo — to the ecstasy of gold, it has been a big few days.
While many labelled her long jump result ‘‘disappointing", Grimaldi had a different outlook.
"I don’t think that’s the right word for this scenario, because I’m incredibly proud of where I am personally and where I am at these Games.
"It was disappointing, but not for the reasons everyone might think."
She was inundated with supportive messages — and that spurred her on to win the 200m gold.
"It was just incredibly humbling and I think it drove me to get back up."
Grimaldi, who returns home in early November, felt every ounce of support from her ‘‘beautiful" Otago community.
"I’ve always been a proud Otago girl, and Dunedin girl, but this last year the community has really got behind me and supported me.
"I can’t wait to come home and share it with all of them."
