Assunta Legnante

Assunta Legnante (born 14 May 1978) is a visually impaired Italian shot putter. She has competed in both the Olympics and the Paralympics, one of the few athletes to do so. since February 2013Template:Dated maintenance category (articles), she is the current F11 shot put world record holder. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, 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 and the gold medal at the 2007 European Indoor Athletics Championships, where she captained the Italian team. In 2009 she is Silver Medal in the same category at the Mediterranean Games

She finished fifth at the 2006 European Athletics Championships. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, having missed the 2004 Olympics due to dangerously high intraocular pressure.

Her personal best throw is 19.04 metres, achieved in September 2006 in Busto Arsizio. Her best indoor result is 19.20 metres, achieved in February 2002 in Genova.

Blindness and Paralympics

Legnante was born with congenital glaucoma in both eyes. In 2009, she suddenly lost the sight in her better, right eye. Her left retina then deteriorated. She had a cataract 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 athlete, training for the forthcoming 2012 Summer Paralympics.

At the 2012 Italian Paralympic Athletics Championships in Turin she set a new F11 shot put world record with a throw of 13.27 metres. On 8 June, at Memorial Primo Nebiolo in Turin, she improved the world record, three times, to 15.22 m. At the London Paralympics, 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 Naples eight days later.

Achievements

Athletics
1996	World Junior Championships	Sydney, Australia	13th (q)	Shot put	13.44 m
1999	European U23 Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	3rd	Shot put	16.53 m
2001	Mediterranean Games	Radès, Tunisia	1st	Shot put	17.23 m
	Universiade	Beijing, China	11th	Shot put	16.16 m
2002	European Indoor Championships	Vienna, Austria	2nd	Shot put	18.60 m
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	8th	Shot put	18.23 m = PB
2003	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	8th	Shot put	18.20 m
	World Championships	Paris, France	8th	Shot put	18.28 m
2004	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	6th	Shot put	17.20 m
2005	European Indoor Championships	Madrid, Spain	6th	Shot put	17.76 m
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	12th	Shot put	16.99 m
	Universiade	İzmir, Turkey	4th	Shot put	17.31 m
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	5th	Shot put	18.83 m
2007	European Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	1st	Shot put	18.92 m
2009	Mediterranean Games	Pescara, Italy	2nd	Shot put	17.44 m
Paralympic Athletics
2012	Summer Paralympics	London, United Kingdom	1st	Shot put	16.74 m File:Sport records icon WR.svg
			8th	Discus throw	30.81 m
2016	Summer Paralympics	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	1st	Shot put	15.74 m
			4th	Discus throw	31.51 m

See also

• List of athletes who have competed in the Paralympics and Olympics
• Italian all-time lists – shot put

External links

• Template:Sports links