 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Italian |
| Born | (1969-12-12)12 December 1969 (age 56) Slough, England |
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft11+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 60 kg (132 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Italy |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Long jump |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbest | 7.11 m (1998) |
Medal record | |
Fiona May (born 12 December 1969) is a retiredtrack and field athlete who competed for the United Kingdom and later Italy in thelong jump. She won theWorld Championships twice and two Olympic silver medals. Her personal best jump was 7.11 metres, which was her silver medal result at the1998 European Championships.
Born in Lusaka and raised in Derby, May studied A-levels in Communications and Economics atSouth East Derbyshire College.[1] She trained at Derby Ladies Athletics Club.
May attendedLeeds Trinity & All Saints College,[2] a college affiliated with theUniversity of Leeds, studying economics, business management and administration.
She left her British coach in December 1992. May originally competed for Great Britain, but became an Italian citizen upon her marriage to her coachGianni Iapichino in 1994. She left the British team due to lack of money provided. In the 1996 Summer Olympics she damaged her ankle and knee.[3]
She also competed briefly in thetriple jump, and her career best of 14.65 metres from 1998 was good enough to place fifth in the world that season.[4]
May missed the whole 2002 season as a result of her pregnancy and childbirth. Her last significant competition was the2005 World Championships, where she failed to reach thefinal.[5] May and Iapichino were married until 2011.
In 2006, she retired from competitions and started a new successful career in show business. After some modelling, she became the spokeswoman of theKinder snacks and she won the Italian version ofDancing with the Stars in 2006. Later that year her acting debut was broadcast onRai Uno as the protagonist ofButta la luna, aminiseries about racism and social integration.[6]
In 2019, Fiona May become thetestimonial of the ItalianSalesians of Don Bosco's missions in Africa and particularly of their Ethiopian activities for mothers.[7][8]
May's parents areJamaican,[9] and she is also rugby playerMarcel Garvey's cousin.
She married her coachGianni Iapichino, a formerpole vaulter whose best achievements were a fifth and sixth place at the European Indoor Championships in1992 and1994,[10] on Saturday 9 October 1993 at St Peter's in Littleover.[11]
She gave birth to their daughterLarissa in 2002. Larissa is following her parents' footsteps, winning the Italian and European titles for the 300 metres hurdles[12] and the long jump silver medal at the2023 European Indoor Championships.[13]
| 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 mw |
| 1988 | World Junior Championships | Sudbury, Canada | 1st | 6.88 mw(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 mw |
| 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 mw | |
| 2003 | World Championships | Paris, France | 9th | 6.46 m |
| 2004 | World Indoor Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 6th | 6.64 m |
| Olympic Games | Athens, Greece | 28th (q) | 6.38 m | |
| 2005 | Mediterranean Games | Almería, Spain | 1st | 6.64 m |
Related | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
