Former world champion long jumper Fiona May says racism increasing in Italy

By Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) - Fiona May, a former world champion in the long jump, said Friday that racism in Italy is now more frequent than 20 years ago when she competed.

"Italy has gone backwards 20 years. Twenty years ago there wasn't all this racism. Or perhaps, it's simply that there wasn't social media then. Some people are saying on social media that (her daughter) Larissa isn't Italian. How can they do that?," May told the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera.

May, 54, who was born in the UK to Jamaican parents and later acquired Italian citizenship, said some Italian users on social media irked her after she saw offensive comments against her daughter, Larissa Iapichino, who is a black athlete.

Iapichino, 22, from Borgo San Lorenzo in Italy and resides in Florence, finished fourth Thursday in the long jump at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Her father Gianni Iapichino, who is May's ex-husband, is a former pole vaulter.

"The issue is the color of your skin. Which really shouldn't be a problem," said May, a two-time Olympic silver medalist.

"The French national football team is almost exclusively made up of blacks: coaches go looking for them in the street, they include them, they involve them. The same thing happens in England. The Belgian national team's center forward for the last 10 years has been Romelu Lukaku. Why aren't there any blacks in the national football team in Italy?" she asked.

May said that Italy is "going backwards instead of going forwards" on the issue.

"That there's something, in the country's subconscious … I also don't like it when the TV commentators say Larissa has an Italian dad, but the mum, on the other hand, is -- I competed all my life in the Italian national colors," May added.

Italian sports have been troubled by racist abuse for years.

Italian volleyball star Paola Egonu said in 2023 that "Italy is a racist country, but it is ‘improving.’”

Born in Italy's Cittadella to Nigerian parents, Egonu, 25, previously said she was threatened with leaving the Italian national team because of racist comments directed toward her after a third-place finish at the 2022 FIVB Women's World Championship.

Consorzio Vero Volley, opposite Egonu, is still playing for the national team at the Paris Games.

Egonu-led Italy to a 3-0 win Thursday against Türkiye at South Paris Arena 1 and will face the US in the gold medal match on Sunday in Paris.