Paola Grizzetti

Rower Paola Grizzetti was a member of the Italy women’s coxed quadruple sculls that finished sixth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. It was the first Italian women’s crew to compete at the Olympic Games. She took part in the heat only because, following an injury, her place as stroke in the fours was taken by Antonella Corazza, who was pulled out of the single sculls by the team’s Norwegian technical coach, Thor Nielsen

Accompanied by her fellow Olympians Alessandra Borio, Donata Minorati, Corazza, and the non-Olympian cox Francesca Sclarandis, Grizzetti finished 11th at the 1983 World Championships in Duisburg, in a race won by the Soviet Union

After her active rowing career in the 2000s, Grizzetti became coach of the Italy Adaptive Rowing team until 2013. The team won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. After leaving Adaptive she took up a similar position with the Israeli national team. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, one of her pupils, Moran Samuel, won a bronze medal. In 2016 she took up the position as trainer with the Canottieri Lugano club in Switzerland.