Italy’s Assunta Legnante literally has an ‘Eye of the Tigress’. The Italian may be visually impaired but her distances in shot put and discus throw have earned her three Paralympics gold and four World Championships and two European indoor titles. She has already established herself as one of the legendary para-sportspersons and goes by the moniker “Cannoncino” (or Little Cannon) in Italian.
At the World Para Athletics Championships here, one can’t miss Legnante competing wearing a special ‘Tigress’ mask on her eyes as part of her competition attire during her events, a distinctive practice that has become part of her competition ritual.
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At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, the 47-year-old from Naples wore a special eye mask featuring a ‘roaring tiger’.
At Paris 2024, Legnante displayed the Mona Lisa eye mask on her vision piece. In Delhi, she competed donning an ‘eye of the tigress’ mask. For Legnante, this connects her to India’s rich history, culture and tradition.
“It’s something I started with the Tokyo Paralympics,” Legnante, who competes in the F11 and F12 categories which is for athletes with the highest degree of visual impairment, told TOI.
“It’s a fun way of connecting with the host country. I like these colourful masks.
I’ll do so at the LA (Los Angeles) Paralympics (2028) as well,” she said, reminding us that she would be 50 then but has no plans of stopping.
Legnante continued her dominance at the World para athletics after claiming a record fourth gold in the women’s shot put F12 final and settling for silver in the women’s discus throw F11 event.
She is one of those rare athletes who has competed in both the Olympics and world Paralympics.
She achieved success as an able-bodied athlete and para-sportsperson at the international level, cornering medal glory despite being born with congenital glaucoma in both eyes.
Legnante started her sporting career like a normal athlete. She won gold and silver in the women’s shot put at the different editions of the European athletics championships in the early and mid 2000s. At the 2007 European meet, she even captained the Italian team, achieving a personal best throw of 19.04m.
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