| Fiona May regained her title to become the first athlete to win World golds across three decades. She was World Junior Champion in 1988 and won world titles indoors in 1997 and outdoors in 1995 and now 2001. The British-born Italian had not been fancied to win, with a season’s best of just 6.79. Yet she improved to 6.80 in the qualifying round where former champion Drechsler, her right thigh strapped, was eliminated. In the final, May led all the way, starting with a 6.86w then 6.97 and 7.02w, which was also measured at 7.16w from her take-off point behind the edge of the board. In the fourth round Kotova – the favourite – spanned 7.01w (7.12w from take-off) while defending champion Montalvo moved into the bronze medal position. That was how it stayed until the finish. After the event, May announced she would be taking a rest from competition in 2002. |
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Long Jump |
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7 August |
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Women's Long Jump final |
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Despite a scare in the fourth round of the women's long jump final, when Russia's Tatyana KOTOVA leapt to a wind assisted 7.01 metres, Italy's Olympic silver medallist Fiona MAY won today's final with a consistently high quality series of jumps, headed by 7.02m(windy) on her third attempt.
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MAY dominated the competition from the start. Jumping ninth, she took the lead in the first round with 6.86m(w), with Valentina GOTOVSKA of Latvia responding two jumps later with 6.84m(w). Spain's defending champion Niurka MONTALVO was third at this point with 6.73m(w).
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The positions did not change in round two although MAY improved to 6.97m.
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Round three confirmed the midway elimination of America's multi-talented long jumper/hurdler Jenny ADAMS who had her third straight foul. It was towards the end of this third round that MAY produced her longest leap (7.02m, w), with a perfect plant on the take off board. As if inspired by that effort, Hungary's Tunde VASZI, jumping next, moved up to second with 6.86m. Earlier in the round Greece's Niki XANTHOU, the 1997 world silver medallist, moved up with 6.76m(w).
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MONTALVO, who had been pushed down the list by the Hungarian's and Greek's third attempts, responded well in the fourth round producing a bronze medal-winning leap of 6.88m(w).
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However, the competition had really come alight just three jumps earlier when KOTOVA, who was fourth in Sydney, put in a very close challenge to MAY. Her jump was just 1cm shy of the Italian's lead. MAY in this round put in another solid leap (6.73m).
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Despite good jumps by both MAY (6.97m) and KOTOVA (6.81m) on their fifth attempts, and a 6.80m leap by the Italian in the sixth, in reality the medals had already been placed around the necks of MAY (Gold), KOTOVA (Silver) and MONTALVO (Bronze).
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| MAY, who won this title back in 1995 and took the bronze in 1997 and silver in 1999, was greeted at the track side with a hug by Olympic champion Heike Drechsler, who failed to qualify for the final in Edmonton due to injury. |
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Final |
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| 1 |
Fiona May |
ITA |
12 Dec 69 |
7,02 |
2.6 |
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| 2 |
Tatyana Kotova |
RUS |
11 Dec 76 |
7,01 |
3.6 |
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| 3 |
Niurka Montalvo |
ESP |
4 Jun 68 |
6,88 |
2.1 |
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| 4 |
Tünde Vaszi |
HUN |
18 Apr 72 |
6.86 |
1.3 |
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| 5 |
Valentīna Gotovska |
LAT |
3 Sep 65 |
6,84 |
3.5 |
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| 6 |
Níki Xánthou |
GRE |
11 Oct 73 |
6,76 |
3.1 |
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| 7 |
Maurren Higa Maggi |
BRA |
25 Jun 76 |
6.73 |
-0.6 |
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| 8 |
Lyudmila Galkina |
RUS |
20 Jan 72 |
6.70 |
0.1 |
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| 9 |
Guan Yingnan |
CHN |
25 Apr 77 |
6,69 |
3.5 |
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| 10 |
Elva Goulbourne |
JAM |
21 Jan 80 |
6.62 |
1.2 |
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| 11 |
Kumiko Imura |
JPN |
10 Jan 81 |
6.44 |
1.2 |
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Jenny Adams |
USA |
8 Jul 78 |
NM |
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| Women's Long Jump Qualifying Round |
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Italy's Fiona MAY appears poised to come out from the shadow of German's dominant Heike DRECHSLER in the women's long jump.
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MAY, who settled for silver behind DRECHSLER in the 2000 Olympics, earned automatic qualification with her first jump of 6.80m (the qualifying standard was 6.70m). But DRECHSLER'S day came to an unexpected end when an injury forced her to abandon her first jump.
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"I came to the stadium today healthy and was feeling great," DRECHSLER said. "During my run-ups and the first jump I felt this pain in my right leg, which warned me there was something wrong. I tried to jump again but it just did not work."
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DRECHSLER, her right thigh bandaged, did manage a second jump of just 4.45m, but was clearly in discomfort. She signaled that she was finished, and blew kisses to an appreciative crowd before bowing out.
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At 36, a champion for half her life, DRECHSLER told the crowd that she was not finished, and intends to compete in the next World Championships.
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Brazil's Maurren Higa MAGGI qualified with her last jump of 6.74m. Tunde VASZI (HUN) also qualified on her second attempt, a jump of 6.71m.
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Tatyana KOTOVA (RUS), the world leader this year, needed her last jump of 6.54m to qualify. Reigning world champion Niurka MONTALVO (ESP) jumped 6.65m to qualify, while the up-and-coming hurdler-long jumper Jenny ADAMS (USA) grabbed the last qualifying spot with a leap of 6.48m.
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| The 1996 Olympic champion, Chioma AJUNWA (NGR) failed to qualify, finishing 14th in a field of 22. |
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Qualification |
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5 August |
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Fiona May |
ITA |
12 Dec 69 |
6.80 |
1.0 |
Q |
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Maurren Higa Maggi |
BRA |
25 Jun 76 |
6.74 |
0.4 |
Q |
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Tünde Vaszi |
HUN |
18 Apr 72 |
6.71 |
-1.4 |
Q |
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Níki Xánthou |
GRE |
11 Oct 73 |
6.66 |
-1.1 |
q |
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Guan Yingnan |
CHN |
25 Apr 77 |
6.66 |
0.6 |
q |
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Niurka Montalvo |
ESP |
4 Jun 68 |
6.65 |
-0.5 |
q |
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Lyudmila Galkina |
RUS |
20 Jan 72 |
6.62 |
-0.2 |
q |
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Elva Goulbourne |
JAM |
21 Jan 80 |
6.60 |
-0.5 |
q |
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Valentīna Gotovska |
LAT |
3 Sep 65 |
6.58 |
-0.9 |
q |
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Tatyana Kotova |
RUS |
11 Dec 76 |
6.54 |
-1.1 |
q |
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Kumiko Imura |
JPN |
10 Jan 81 |
6.49 |
0.4 |
q |
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Jenny Adams |
USA |
8 Jul 78 |
6.48 |
-2.5 |
q |
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Yelena Kashcheyeva |
KAZ |
17 Feb 73 |
6.46 |
0.4 |
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Chioma Ajunwa |
NGR |
25 Dec 70 |
6.43 |
-0.3 |
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Maho Hanaoka |
JPN |
3 Aug 76 |
6.43 |
0.8 |
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Jackie Edwards |
BAH |
14 Apr 71 |
6.42 |
-0.3 |
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Chantal Brunner |
NZL |
5 Nov 70 |
6.39 |
-0.8 |
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Aurelie Félix |
FRA |
26 Mar 79 |
6.37 |
1.0 |
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Olga Rublyova |
RUS |
28 Oct 74 |
6.27 |
-0.4 |
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Alice Falaiye |
CAN |
24 Dec 78 |
6.04 |
-0.1 |
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Yelena Bobrovskaya |
KGZ |
11 Apr 75 |
5.93 |
-0.1 |
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Heike Drechsler |
GER |
16 Dec 64 |
4.45 |
-1.7 |
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BAH
USA
RUS
JAM
KAZ
JPN
ITA
ESP
HUN
NGR
GRE
GER
CHN
CAN
NZL
KGZ
LAT
FRA
BRA
