Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy

Rigivan "Rigi" Ganeshamoorthy^[a][b] (born 8 June 1999) is an Italian para-athlete, competing in F52 throwing events. He represented Italy at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, winning a gold medal and setting a new world record in the discus throw.

Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy

Ganeshamoorthy in March 2025
Personal information
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1999-06-08) 8 June 1999 (age 26) Rome, Italy
Sport
Sport	Para-athletics
Disability	Guillain–Barré syndrome tetraplegia
Disability class	F52
Events	Discus throw shot put javelin throw
Club	A.S. Anthropos Civitanova Marche
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	Javelin throw: 20.99 m (2024, WR) Discus throw: 27.06 m (2024, WR) Shot put: 11.73 m (2024)
Medal record Para-athletics Representing  Italy Paralympic Games 2024 Paris Discus throw

Early and personal life

Ganeshamoorthy was born in Rome to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, and grew up in the city's borough of Dragona [it], in the 10th municipality. He has an elder brother and a younger sister. In 2017, he was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome, which was aggravated by a cervical injury resulting from a fall in 2019. As a result, he became tetraplegic. Until then a sedentary person, after trying wheelchair basketball, fencing and water polo, he began practicing Paralympic athletics, specializing in throwing.^{[1][4][5][6][9][10]} He was the Italian sabre champion in 2023.^[5]

Ganeshamoorthy's sister Thujana works at a foundation for people with disabilities in Ostia.^[11] As of June 2025,^[update] he has been in a three-year relationship with Alice, a singer also from Dragona.^[3][4] He was baptized a Roman Catholic in 2023.^[4] He is a supporter of soccer club A.S. Roma.^[10]

Career

In 2023, Ganeshamoorthy was the Italian Paralympic champion in the shot put F55 and the discus throw F54–F55. The following year he was again Italian champion in the shot put and discus throw, setting the European Paralympic record F52 in both disciplines; he also holds the Paralympic world record F52 in the javelin throw, with a measurement of 20.99 m, which he set at the 2024 Italian championships in Brescia, and his personal best in the shot put (11.73 m) is 1 cm under the world record held by André Rocha.^[1][9][10]

In 2024, Ganeshamoorthy made his international debut at the Summer Paralympics, where he won the gold medal in the discus throw F52 upon breaking the Paralympic world record three times within the same competition: 25.48 m, 25.80 m and finally 27.06 m.^[1][12][13]

Ganeshamoorthy won three gold medals at the Italian championships in Ancona in June 2025. He is set to compete in the 12th World Para Athletics Championships, held in New Delhi in September 2025.^[3]

Notes

1. Italian: [ˈriːdʒi(vaŋ) ɡaneʃʃaˈmurti];^[1] Tamil: ரிஜீவன் கணேசமூர்த்தி,^[2] pronounced [ɾiˈdʑiːʋan kaˈɳeːsamuːɾt̪ːi].
2. Ganeshamoorthy's hypocorism "Rigi"^[3][4][5][6] is also spelled "Riggi"^[7][8] reflecting the pronunciation in his native Romanesco dialect,^[6][8] where the /dʒ/ consonant is always geminated (i.e. [ˈɾidːʒi]).