Fiona May: won world junior gold and finished sixth in the Seoul Olympics in 1988 for Great Britain before later switching to Italy
AFTER BEING the only British winner at the inaugural World Junior Championships in Canada in 1988, May made the Olympic team for the Seoul Olympics that summer, finishing sixth in the long jump final at the age of 18, and looked set for a bright future for GB. That bright future would see her leaping a PB of 7.11m when claiming silver at the 1998 European Championships – only it was to be in the colours of Italy after she married an Italian pole vaulter in 1994 and moved to Florence.
She won gold for her new country at the 1995 and 2001 World Championships, together with Olympic silvers in 1996 and 2000. In contrast to the controversy surrounding the import of “plastic Brits” today, the Italian public and media regarded May as not so much plastic, but fantastic.
“Yes they did,” she says, speaking from her home in Mugello, just outside Florence, where she lives with her two daughters, Larissa, 14, and Anastasia, 7. “They still do.
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About AW - The best coverage of the No.1 Olympic sport
THE BIG INTERVIEW
14 MARQUISE GOODWIN
The American footballer spending the offseason
shooting for Olympic long jump glory
SPOTLIGHT
16 GENEVA MARATHON
Why ‘fast is beautiful’ in the Swiss city
24 WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
World long jump champion Fiona May
28 NOSTALGIA
Going back 80 years to the first visit to the
UK of legend Fanny Blankers-Koen
NEWS
6 Georgina Hermitage among GB IPC winners
9 Ross Millington on making the Rio team
11 Russian trio announced as dopers
STATISTICS
30 ROAD TO RIO
The in-depth history of the men’s relays at
the Olympic Games
PERFORMANCE
38 Sports science news
40 Athlete Insight – Sophie Hitchon
42 How music can boost your running
44 Product reviews – sports earphones
TALKING POINT
20 Peter Hewkin on how athletics can play to
its strengths more
ACTION
46 OSLO DIAMOND LEAGUE
Dafne Schippers goes sub-22, while Laura
Muir sets Scottish mile record
50 MIDLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
Elliott Powell impresses with sprint double
52 NORTHERN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Jessica Ennis-Hill tackles four events
56 SOUTHERN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Taylor Campbell on form in the hammer
RESULTS & FIXTURES
60 Results – Usain Bolt runs 9.88 in Jamaica
73 Stockholm Diamond League and EA
U23/U20 Championships previews
75 Comprehensive fixtures guide
REGULARS
36 YOUNG ATHLETE
78 QUIZ CORNER
82 DIP FINISH