Fiona May
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| Nationality | Italian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 12 December 1969 Slough, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 60 kg (132 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country | Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Long jump | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal best(s) | 7.11 m (1998)  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Fiona May Iapichino (born 12 December 1969 in Slough, England) 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.
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 was the 2005 World Championships, where she failed to reach the final.[3] May and Iapichino were married until 2011.
Born in Slough and raised in Derby, May attended Leeds Trinity & All Saints College,[4] 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.[5]
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 baby mamas.[6][7]
Family[]
May's parents are Jamaican.[8] 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 and European champion.[9]
Achievements[]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  Great Britain and  England
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| 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
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| 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[]
- Italian sportswomen multiple medalists at Olympics and World Championships
- Italian record progression women's long jump
- Italian all-time lists – Long jump
- Italian all-time lists – Triple jump
- FIDAL Hall of Fame
- Naturalized athletes of Italy
References[]
- ^ "TRIPLE JUMP 1998". Archived from the original on 15 August 2004.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Fiona May's makes Final Farewell". iaaf.org. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
- ^ "University of Leeds". at1ce.org. Retrieved 25 October 2012.[dead link]
- ^ "Butta la luna 2, da stasera su Raiuno torna Fiona May in versione attric" (in Italian). tvblog.it. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
- ^ "Fiona May, il futuro è la nostra missione". Salesians of Don Bosco (in Italian). 4 December 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ^ "Fiona May testimonial di Missioni Don Bosco" (in Italian). 23 April 2019.
- ^ "Sporting heroes".
- ^ "Atletica, Larissa Iapichino, figlia di Fiona May, è campione d'Italia nei 300 hs". 9 October 2016.
External links[]
- Fiona May at Olympic.org (archived)
- Fiona May at OlympicChannel.com (archived)
- Fiona May at Olympics.com
- Fiona May at Italian Olympic Committee (in Italian)
- Fiona May at Olympedia
- Fiona May at World Athletics
- Fiona May at European Athletic Association (archived)
- Fiona May at Italian Athletics Federation (in Italian)
- Fiona May at TrackField.brinkster.net
- Fiona May at Munzinger Sports Archives (in German)
- Fiona May at IMDb
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- 1969 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Slough
- Sportspeople from Derby
- Italian female long jumpers
- English female long jumpers
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England
- Olympic athletes of Italy
- Olympic silver medalists for Italy
- Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
- Olympic athletes of Great Britain
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain
- World Athletics Championships athletes for Italy
- World Athletics Championships medalists
- Dancing with the Stars winners
- Naturalised citizens of Italy
- English emigrants to Italy
- Italian people of Jamaican descent
- English people of Jamaican descent
- Alumni of Leeds Trinity University
- Alumni of the University of Leeds
- Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy
- Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2005 Mediterranean Games
- Universiade silver medalists for Great Britain
- World Athletics Indoor Championships winners
- World Athletics Championships winners
- Black British sportspeople
- Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade