Assunta Legnante (born 14 May 1978 in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

) is a visually impaired Italian

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter. She has competed in both the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and the

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

, one of the few athletes to do so. , she is the current F11 shot put world record holder. She competed 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 Women's discus throw F11, and Women's shot put F12, winning silver medals.

Non-disabled athletics career

Legnante won the silver medal at the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

and the gold medal at the

2007 European Indoor Athletics Championships The 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham, England, from Friday, 2 March to Sunday, 4 March 2007. Birmingham also held the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Men's results Tra ...

, where she captained the Italian team. She finished fifth at the

2006 European Athletics Championships The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit". Gothenburg also hosted the 1995 World Champi ...

. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, having missed the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

due to dangerously high

intraocular pressure Intraocular pressure (IOP) is the fluid pressure inside the eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response fu ...

. Her personal best throw is 19.04 metres, achieved in September 2006 in

Busto Arsizio Busto Arsizio (; lmo, label=Bustocco, Büsti Grandi) is an Italian city and ''comune'' in the south-easternmost part of the Province of Varese, in the region of Lombardy, in Northern Italy, north of Milan. The economy of Busto Arsizio is mainly ...

. Her best indoor result is 19.20 metres, achieved in February 2002 in

Genova Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Blindness and Paralympics

Legnante was born with congenital

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye re ...

in both eyes. In 2009, she suddenly lost the sight in her better, right eye. Her left retina then deteriorated. She had a

cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...

removed in March 2012, but that did not improve her sight. She now has light perception in her left eye, but nothing more. The 2007 European indoor champion did not lose heart and started a new career as a

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

athlete, training for the forthcoming

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

. At the 2012 Italian Paralympic Athletics Championships in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

she set a new F11 shot put world record with a throw of 13.27 metres. On 8 June, at ''

Memorial Primo Nebiolo The Memorial Primo Nebiolo is an annual track and field meeting held at the Stadio Primo Nebiolo in Turin, Italy in early June. History The history of the Turin competition dates back to 1963, when the Torino Meeting was first held. This event ho ...

'' in

, she improved the world record, three times, to 15.22 m. At the

London Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Game ...

, she broke her own world record with a throw of 16.74 metres. In 2014, she returned to international level throwing 17.09 on 20 June and 17.39 at the regional championships in

eight days later.

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Legnante, Assunta 1978 births Living people Italian female shot putters Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Italy Athletes from Naples Paralympic athletes of Italy Paralympic gold medalists for Italy Paralympic silver medalists for Italy Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics World record holders in Paralympic athletics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Italy Athletes (track and field) at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2009 Mediterranean Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics World Para Athletics Championships winners Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field)

Non-disabled athletics career

Blindness and Paralympics

Achievements

See also

References

External links