Fiona May

Last updated
Fiona May
Fiona may.JPG
Personal information
NationalityItalian
Born (1969-12-12) 12 December 1969 (age 54)
Slough, England
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight60 kg (132 lb)
Sport
Country Italy
SportAthletics
Event Long jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best7.11 m (1998) Sport records icon NR.svg
Medal record
Representing Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Event1st2nd3rd
Olympic Games 020
World Championships 211
European Championships 011
World Indoor Championships 100
European Indoor Championships 100
Mediterranean Games 100
European Cup 323
Total865
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1996 Atlanta Long jump
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2000 Sydney Long jump
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1995 Gothenburg Long jump
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2001 Edmonton Long jump
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1999 Seville Long jump
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1997 Athens Long jump
World Indoor Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1997 Paris Long jump
European Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1998 Budapest Long jump
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1994 Helsinki Long jump
European Indoor Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1998 Valencia Long jump
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Event1st2nd3rd
Universiade 100
European Cup 003
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1990 Auckland Long jump
World Junior Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1988 Sudbury Long jump

Fiona May (born 12 December 1969) is a retired track and field athlete who competed for the United Kingdom and later Italy 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.

Contents

Career

She also competed briefly in the 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 became an Italian citizen upon her marriage to her coach Gianni Iapichino in 1994. May missed the whole 2002 season as a result of her pregnancy and childbirth. Her last significant competition was the 2005 World Championships, where she failed to reach the final. [2] May and Iapichino were married until 2011.

Born in Slough and raised in Derby, May attended Leeds Trinity & All Saints College, [3] a college affiliated with 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. [4]

Other ventures

In 2019, Fiona May become the testimonial of the Italian Salesians of Don Bosco's missions in Africa and particularly of their Ethiopian activities for mothers. [5] [6]

Family

May's parents are Jamaican, [7] and she is also rugby player Marcel Garvey's cousin. In 1994, she married her coach Gianni Iapichino, a former pole vaulter whose best achievements were a fifth and sixth place at the European Indoor Championships in 1992 and 1994; [8] she gave birth to their daughter Larissa in 2002. Larissa is following her parents' footsteps, winning the Italian and European titles for the 300 metres hurdles [9] and the long jump silver medal at the 2023 European Indoor Championships. [10]

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionNotes
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain and Flag of England.svg  England
1986 World Junior Championships Athens, Greece 8th 6.11 m
1987 European Junior Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom1st6.64 m w
1988 World Junior Championships Sudbury, Canada1st 6.88 m w(wind: +2.1 m/s)
Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea6th6.62 m
1990 Commonwealth Games Auckland, New Zealand3rd6.55 m
European Championships Split, Yugoslavia 7th 6.77 m (wind: +1.3 m/s)
1991 World Championships Tokyo, Japan19th (q)6.54 m
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain—NM
1993 World Championships Stuttgart, Germany14th (q)6.42 m
Representing Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
1994 European Championships Helsinki, Finland3rd 6.90 m (wind: -0.7 m/s)
1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden1st6.98 m w
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States2nd7.02 m
IAAF Grand Prix Final Milan, Italy3rd6.86 m
1997 World Indoor Championships Paris, France1st6.86 m
World Championships Athens, Greece3rd6.91 m
1998 European Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain1st 6.91 m
European Championships Budapest, Hungary2nd 7.11 m
1999 World Championships Sevilla, Spain2nd6.94 m
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia2nd6.92 m
2001 World Indoor Championships Lisbon, Portugal4th6.87 m
World Championships Edmonton, Canada1st7.02 m w
2003 World Championships Paris, France9th6.46 m
2004 World Indoor Championships Budapest, Hungary6th6.64 m
Olympic Games Athens, Greece28th (q)6.38 m
2005 Mediterranean Games Almería, Spain1st6.64 m

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "TRIPLE JUMP 1998". Archived from the original on 15 August 2004.
  2. ↑ "Fiona May's makes Final Farewell". iaaf.org. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "University of Leeds". at1ce.org. Retrieved 25 October 2012.[ dead link ]
  4. ↑ "Butta la luna 2, da stasera su Raiuno torna Fiona May in versione attric" (in Italian). tvblog.it. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  5. ↑ "Fiona May, il futuro è la nostra missione". Salesians of Don Bosco (in Italian). 4 December 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  6. ↑ "Fiona May testimonial di Missioni Don Bosco" (in Italian). 23 April 2019.
  7. ↑ "Sporting heroes".
  8. ↑ "24th European Indoor Championships 1996, 24th European Indoor Championships 1998". european-athletics.org. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "Atletica, Larissa Iapichino, figlia di Fiona May, è campione d'Italia nei 300 hs". 9 October 2016.
  10. ↑ "Larissa Iapichino - Biografia". fidal.it (in Italian). Retrieved 10 March 2023.

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