Fiona May

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.

Fiona May
Personal information
NationalityItalian
Born (1969-12-12) 12 December 1969
Slough, England
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight60 kg (132 lb)
Sport
CountryItaly
SportAthletics
Event(s)Long jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)7.11 m (1998)
Medal record
Representing  Italy
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 2 0
World Championships 2 1 1
European Championships 0 1 1
World Indoor Championships 1 0 0
European Indoor Championships 1 0 0
Mediterranean Games 1 0 0
European Cup 3 2 3
Total 8 6 5
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place1996 AtlantaLong jump
Silver medal – second place2000 SydneyLong jump
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1995 GothenburgLong jump
Gold medal – first place2001 EdmontonLong jump
Silver medal – second place1999 SevilleLong jump
Bronze medal – third place1997 AthensLong jump
World Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place1997 ParisLong jump
European Championships
Silver medal – second place1998 BudapestLong jump
Bronze medal – third place1994 HelsinkiLong jump
European Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place1998 ValenciaLong jump
Representing  Great Britain
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Universiade 1 0 0
European Cup 0 0 3
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place1990 AucklandLong jump
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place1988 SudburyLong jump

Biography

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 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 who won the 300 metres hurdles Italian and European title [9] and the long jump silver medal at the 2023 European Indoor Championships.[10]

Achievements
YearCompetitionVenuePositionNotes
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
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 28th (q) 6.38 m
2005 Mediterranean Games Almería, Spain 1st 6.64 m

See also

References
  1. "TRIPLE JUMP 1998". Archived from the original on 15 August 2004.
  2. "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.
  3. "Fiona May's makes Final Farewell". iaaf.org. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  4. "University of Leeds". at1ce.org. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  5. "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.
  6. "Fiona May, il futuro è la nostra missione". Salesians of Don Bosco (in Italian). 4 December 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  7. "Fiona May testimonial di Missioni Don Bosco" (in Italian). 23 April 2019.
  8. "Sporting heroes".
  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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