Fiona May competing in Trento on 13 September 2005 (© Lorenzo Smpaolo)
Former double World Long Jump champion Fiona May of Italy is concluding her prestigious career with a farewell tour which includes some end-of-season Italian meetings such as the "Terra Sarda" meet in Sardinia last Saturday, the Donna Sprint women meeting in the northern town of Trento (13 September) and in Eboli (near Naples) next weekend.
These meetings are the last chance for her many fans to say "thank you" to one of the greatest Italian athletes ever, who at the age of 35 years has, after failing to qualify for the World Championships Final in Helsinki by just two centimetres, decided to call it a day.
"I am receiving many letters from my fans and many requests from organizers in Italy who want to invite me for a farewell competition,” confirmed May. “It is impossible to content everybody. My career is near to end. I am moved. I feel a bit sad to leave athletics. Many fans are asking me not to give up but I am no longer motivated to continue and I am tired", said Fiona May after her long jump competition in Trento.
"I am a bit embarassed by all this attention on me. I have never considered myself as a ‘diva’ but as a normal person who began with athletics at the age of 11 to win medals in major championships. I fulfilled my goal winning 11 medals in the major championships which represent the greatest achievement in my athletics career."
"I feel that I need to dedicate more time to my 3-year-old daughter Larissa. I need her and she needs me. I am grateful to the world of athletics. I gave everything to my sport but I have also received much from that. Athletics taught me that good results can be achieved only through hard work and dedication."
The British-born long jumper, who became Italian after marrying to the pole vaulter Gianni Iapichino in 1993, has had a very long and honoured international career which began with her 1988 World Junior title for Great Britain and her sixth place in the Olympic Games in Seoul later in the same year.
May took her first medal as a senior athlete in 1994 with the bronze at the European Championships in Helsinki where she competed for Italy for the first time. Since then she has won two World outdoor titles (Gothenburg 1995 and Edmonton 2001) two Olympic silver medals (Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000), two other World outdoor medals (Athens 1997 – silver, and Seville 1999 - bronze) and a European outdoor silver medal (Budapest 1998 with an italian record of 7.11), a World Indoor title (Paris 1997) and a European Indoor title (in Valencia 1998).
In her career she produced 12 wind legal jumps over the 7 metres-barrier and also held the Italian Triple Jump record with 14.65m which she set at the European Cup in St. Petersburg 1998.
She gave her best in major championships where memorable battles against the likes of Heike Drechsler, Marion Jones, Jackie Joyner Kersee and Tatyana Kotova will remain in the memory of many athletics enthusiasts for a long time.
The first part of her career ended in Edmonton 2001 where she won her second outdoor title with a wind-assisted 7.02. After Edmonton she took one year off to give birth to her daughter Larissa who was born in July 2002. May resumed training in autumn 2002 but never returned to her best form. She finished ninth at the World Championships in Paris 2003 and sixth at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest 2004 but did not make the final at both the Olympic Games in Athens and the World Championships in Helsinki.
In 2005 some encouraging results at the European Cup in her home town Florence (second behind Russia's Irina Simagina) and the Mediterranean Games in Almeria where she won the gold medal with 6.64m, meant she went to her last World Championships in the Finnish capital with some hope but was unfortunately hampered by injury. A best jump of 6.51 in the qualifying round was not enough to progress to the final. After the disappointment in Helsinki she made the decision to hang up her spikes.
New challenges are ahead of her. In October she will start a new film career in a TV fiction film. "I have already done a screen test. The shooting of this film will start next month. This new chapter in my life has nothing to do with my athlete's life but I don't want to reveal too much now. You will see a totally different Fiona in this fiction."
"I don't know if I will remain in the athletics world. If someone calls me I cannot rule out a future in athletics. I leave Italian athletics without a heir in my discipline. But I think this sport in Italy has a future. This year some determined girls like Benedetta Ceccarelli and Simona La Mantia showed that good results can be achieved through hard work. I wish them my best", concluded Fiona.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Fiona May's best results in major championships:
Olympic Games: 6. in Seoul 1988; silver in Atlanta 1996 and Sidney 2000
World Championships: gold in Gothenburg 1995; bronze in Athens 1997; silver in Seville 1999; gold in Edmonton 2001; 9. in Paris 2003
European Championships: 7. in Split 1990; bronze in Helsinki 1994; silver in Budapest 1998;
Commonwealth Games: bronze in Auckland 1990
European Cup: first in 1997; 1998 (in both the long and triple jump); 1999; second in 1995 and 2005; third in 1989; 1991; 1993; 1994; 1999 (in the triple jump); 2000; 2001; 2003
World Indoor Championships: gold in Paris 1997; 4. in Lisbon 2001; 6. in Budapest 2004
European Indoor Championships: gold in Valencia 1998
World Junior Championships: 6. in Athens 1986; gold in Sudbury 1988
European Junior Championships: gold in Birmingham 1987
World Students Games: silver in Sheffield 1991
IAAF Grand Prix: second in 1996 and 1998
Best performances in the Long Jump:
7.11 Budapest 1998
7.09 Rio De Janeiro 2000
7.08 St. Petersburg 1998
7.07 Milan 2000
7.04 Seville 1999
7.03 Athens 1998
7.02 Atlanta 1996
7.02 Milan 1999
7.23 (wind-assisted +4.3 m/s) Sestriere 1995
7.12 (wind-assisted +3.4 m/s) Bologna 1996
7.02 (wind-assisted +2.6 m/s) Edmonton 2001
Best performances in the Triple Jump:
14.65 St. Petersburg 1998
14.56 (indoor) Florence 1998
14.44 Rovereto 1998
14.39 Trento 1999
14.34 Milan 1998
