Niurka Montalvo

Niurka Montalvo
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Cuba
World Championships
1995 GothenburgLong jump
Pan American Games
1995 Mar de Plata Long jump
1995 Mar de Plata Triple jump
Central American and Caribbean Games
1990 Mexico City Long jump
1993 Ponce Long jump
1993 Ponce Triple jump
CAC Junior Championships (U20)
1986 Mexico City Long jump
1986 Mexico City 100 m hurdles
Representing  Spain
World Championships
1999 SevilleLong jump
2001 EdmontonLong jump
Mediterranean Games
2005 AlmeríaLong jump

Niurka Montalvo Amaro (born June 4, 1968, in Havana) is a former Cuban and Spanish athlete who specialised in the long jump and triple jump events. Her greatest achievement came in 1999, when she became world champion with a personal best jump of 7.06 metres. She was the autonomous secretary of sport for the Autonomous government of Valencia.

Career

Early life

She began her international career with a medal at the 1986 Pan American Junior Championships, taking the bronze in the long jump.[1] Senior medals soon followed: at the Central American and Caribbean Championships she won the long jump gold at the 1987 edition, and another gold came at the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games.

Her first appearance at global level came at the 1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships, where she finished fifth in the long jump. She demonstrated further skills when she scored a double gold in the long jump and triple jump events at both the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics and the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games. That year she went on to become the Summer Universiade champion in the triple jump and just missed out on the medals with a fourth-place finish at the 1993 World Championships in Athletics. She represented America at the 1994 IAAF World Cup and won the long jump silver behind Inessa Kravets with a best mark of 6.70 m.[2]

The 1995 season was a breakthrough for Montalvo as she won triple jump silver and long jump at the 1995 Pan American Games before going on to win her first world medal – a jump of 6.86 m brought her a silver medal behind Fiona May in the long jump final at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. She had mixed fortunes in triple jump that year, finishing sixth at the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships, but fifteenth in the qualifiers of the outdoor championships.

The few years following her world silver she focused solely on the long jump, but to limited success: she failed to make it out of the qualifying round at either the 1996 Summer Olympics or the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships and a fifth place at the 1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final was a modest highlight to a year.

Transfer to Spain

In 1999 she acquired Spanish citizenship by marriage, something which stirred a great amount of controversy. The move brought renewed efforts on the world stage as she became the world champion in the long jump with a gold medal at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics. The Cuban Athletics Federation blocked her participation in the 2000 Summer Olympics, and in addition, she was reportedly included on a list of possible assassination targets for ETA.[3]

Montalvo refused to let this disrupt her athletics career and she won a series of bronze medals after this, starting with the 2000 IAAF Grand Prix Final and then at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2001 World Championships in Athletics. More medals came at regional competitions, with a gold at the 2004 Ibero-American Championships and a silver behind her 1995 World Championships adversary, Fiona May, at the 2005 Mediterranean Games.

She finished seventh in the long jump final at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg at the age of 38.

Personal Bests

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Cuba
1986 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships (U-20) Mexico City, Mexico 2nd 100 m hurdles 14.20 A
1st Long jump 6.29 m A
World Junior Championships Athens, Greece 11th (sf) 100m hurdles 14.28 (wind: +1.1 m/s)
14th (q) Long jump 5.86 m
Ibero-American Championships Havana, Cuba 2nd Long jump 6.11 m (wind: +1.6 m/s)
1988 Ibero-American Championships Mexico City, Mexico 2nd Long jump 6.55 m A
1991 World Indoor Championships Seville, Spain 5th Long jump 6.68 m
1992 Ibero-American Championships Seville, Spain 1st Long jump 6.51 m w (wind: +2.2 m/s)
1st Triple jump 13.60 m (wind: +1.1 m/s)
1993 Universiade Buffalo, United States 1st Long jump 14.16 m (w)
World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 4th Triple jump 14.22 m   (0.2 m/s)
1994 Goodwill Games St. Petersburg, Russia 5th Triple jump 13.54 m
1995 World Indoor Championships Barcelona, Spain 6th Triple jump 14.04 m
Pan American Games Mar del Plata, Argentina 1st Long jump 6.89 m
2nd Triple jump 13.90 m (w)
World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 2nd Long jump 6.86 m   (0.5 m/s)
15th (q) Triple jump 11.40 m   (1.1 m/s)
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 5th (q) Long jump 6.48 m   (-0.8 m/s)
Representing  Spain
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 1st Long jump 7.06 m NR   (-0.1 m/s)
2001 World Championships Edmonton, Canada 3rd Long jump 6.88 m w   (2.1 m/s)
Goodwill Games Brisbane, Australia 5th Long jump 6.78 m

References

  1. ↑ Pan American Junior Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-03-16.
  2. ↑ IAAF World Cup. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-03-16.
  3. ↑ Turnbull, Simon (2001-09-30). Long jumper in hit-list shock. The Independent. Retrieved on 2010-03-16.


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