Fiona MAY

After a promising start to her international long jumping career for Great Britain, Fiona May's performances started to decline in the early 1990s, during which time she failed to qualify for the finals at both the 1991 and 1993 World Championships, as well as the 1992 Olympic Games. However, May's career made a dramatic turnaround following her immigration to Italy and marriage to Italian pole vaulter Gianni Iapichino. Fiona quickly started to make her mark competing in Italy, winning the national title at her first appearance in 1994, and recording a number of national records.

Her first representation for her newly-adopted country in major international competition was at the 1994 European Championships in Helsinki, where she finished third with a jump of 6.90m. As an Italian, Fiona maintained a greater consistency than she had ever done before, as she demonstrated decisively during 1995. On 25 June, at the European Cup, she produced a wind-assisted jump of 6.98m to finish second behind Heike Drechsler (Germany), as well as also setting a new personal best of 6.96m with a legal wind reading. The following month, she produced her lifetime best under any conditions when she jumped a wind-assisted 7.23m at the high altitude resort of Sestriere. Despite this, Drechsler was the clear favourite for the gold medal at that year's World Championships in Gothenburg on 6 August, but she performed well below her best, as she was one of several athletes who had difficulties coping with the swirling wind conditions. May (see photo above) however, had no such problems, jumping 6.93m on her first attempt to assume the lead. The only person to better this jump during the remainder of the competition was May herself, and she sealed the gold medal with a wind-assisted jump of 6.98m in the final round. (Ron Casey)

Women's Long Jump Final.

European Athletics Championships 1994.

Women's Long Jump Final.

World Athletics Championships 1995.