NORMANN Anna

Classification
SH1 (IPC, 12 Mar 2021)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (paralympic.org, 30 Sep 2019)

Impairment Details
She broke her ankle while on a training exercise with the Swedish Army in 2014. She underwent five operations but was unable to regain full function of her ankle. "I was on a training exercise with other soldiers. We were out in the woods, and I was climbing up to a radio station when I slipped. I fell back, but my foot was still wedged between two stairs. I didn't understand why my injury was so complicated, but then the specialists told me that only one in four people who have this kind of break actually recover." (paralympic.org, 30 Sep 2019)

General
TECHNIQUE
She was an able-bodied shooter prior to her accident, and tries to use a modified version of her former stance when competing in shooting Para sport. "The hardest thing to overcome is that my ankle doesn't feel how it used to feel. Most of all it causes me a lot of pain, because the ankle is completely stiff, and if you can't move your ankle, then the bending part has to come from somewhere else. So, then your knees break down. I try to shoot like I did before the accident as much as possible, so I stand on one foot, and I'm on tiptoes on the other. I could sit on a chair but that's so completely new to me, it's too hard. I try to stick to what I'm used to." (paralympic.org, 30 Sep 2019)

MILITARY SERVICE
She serves as an officer in the Swedish Army, and worked with the air defence section that helped protect United Kingdom airspace during the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (forsvarsmakten.se, 09 Mar 2021; paralympic.org, 14 Oct 2019, 30 Sep 2019)