Fiona May

Fiona May
Personal information
Nationality Italian
Born (1969-12-12) 12 December 1969
Slough, England
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 12 in)
Weight 60 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Country Italy
Sport Athletics
Event(s) Long jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 7.11 m (1998)

Fiona May Iapichino (born 12 December 1969 in Slough, England) is a retired British-born Italian track and field athlete who competed in the long jump. She won the World Championships twice and two Olympic silver medals. Her personal best jump was 7.11 metres, which was her silver medal result at the 1998 European Championships.

Biography

She also competed briefly in triple jump, and her career best of 14.65 metres from 1998 was good enough to place fifth in the world that season.[1] May originally competed for Great Britain, but married Gianni Iapichino and became an Italian citizen in 1994. Iapichino, a former pole vaulter whose best achievements were a fifth and sixth place at the European Indoor Championships in 1992 and 1994,[2] was her coach as well. May gave birth to a daughter in 2002, and missed the whole season as a result. Her last significant competition to date was the 2005 World Championships, where she failed to reach the final.[3]

May attended Leeds Trinity & All Saints College,[4] a college affiliated the University of Leeds, studying economics, business management and administration. In 2006 she retired from competitions and started a new successful career in show business. After some modelling, she became the spokeswoman of the Kinder snacks and she won the Italian version of Dancing with the stars in 2006. Later that year her acting debut was broadcast on Rai Uno as the protagonist of Butta la luna, a miniseries about racism and social integration. [5]

Family

May's parents are Jamaican.[6] She is also rugby player Marcel Garvey's cousin. Her daughter, Larissa Iapichino, is following her parents' footsteps and is currently the 300 metres hurdles Italian champion.[7]

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing  Great Britain and  England
1986 World Junior Championships Athens, Greece 8th 6.11 m
1987 European Junior Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 1st 6.64 m w
1988 World Junior Championships Sudbury, Canada 1st 6.88 m w (wind: +2.1 m/s)
Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea 6th 6.62 m
1990 Commonwealth Games Auckland, New Zealand 3rd 6.55 m
European Championships Split, Yugoslavia 7th 6.77 m (wind: +1.3 m/s)
1991 World Championships Tokyo, Japan 19th (q) 6.54 m
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain NM
1993 World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 14th (q) 6.42 m
Representing  Italy
1994 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 3rd 6.90 m (wind: -0.7 m/s)
1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 1st 6.98 m w
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 2nd 7.02 m
IAAF Grand Prix Final Milan, Italy 3rd 6.86 m
1997 World Indoor Championships Paris, France 1st 6.86 m
World Championships Athens, Greece 3rd 6.91 m
1998 European Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 1st 6.91 m
European Championships Budapest, Hungary 2nd 7.11 m
1999 World Championships Sevilla, Spain 2nd 6.94 m
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 2nd 6.92 m
2001 World Indoor Championships Lisbon, Portugal 4th 6.87 m
World Championships Edmonton, Canada 1st 7.02 m w
2003 World Championships Paris, France 9th 6.46 m
2004 World Indoor Championships Budapest, Hungary 6th 6.64 m
2005 Mediterranean Games Almería, Spain 1st 6.64 m

See also

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Maurren Higa Maggi
Women's Long Jump Best Year Performance
2000
Succeeded by
Tatyana Kotova
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