Magdelín Martínez Castillo (; born February 10, 1976, in

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 321,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by S ...

, Cuba) is a Cuban-born female

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

er, competing internationally for Italy.

Biography

She originally represented Cuba. She won the bronze medal at the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

. She jumped 14.27 metres in 1998 and 14.40 metres in 2000. She met future husband, Giuseppe Piccotti, while he was holidaying in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. When he fell ill, she was quick to supply him with medicine, and it all went from there. After moving to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

she wanted to take up jumping again but even though she was jumping personal bests she felt a little closed off from her colleagues, and accepted with good spirits that she would have to become an Italian. She naturalised in July 2001 and competed for Italy at the 2001 World Championships in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. She finished fourth, having set a personal best of 14.59 metres in the qualification. The next year she finished sixth at the 2002 European Championships. In 2003, she finished fifth at the 2003 World Indoor Championships before winning the bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships. At the end of the season she finished fifth at the first

World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

. In 2004, she finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships, seventh at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and fifth at the

. She also jumped two career bests: 15.03 in the triple jump in the

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual track and field event normally held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 death of Italian sprinting legend Pie ...

, and 6.67 in

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

in Rieti. In 2005, she won the silver medal at the

European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet courts. Finals Singles Doubles See also * Berlin Open ...

, finished eighth at the World Championships and seventh at the

. 2006 was a mediocre year. Her season's best was 14.25 metres, down from 15.03 in 2004 and 14.69 in 2005. She competed at the 2006 European Championships, but did not reach the final. However, she made a small comeback in 2007 to finish seventh at the 2007 World Championships. Her season's best jump was 14.71 metres. The next year she competed at the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

without reaching the final.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Magdelin 1976 births Living people Cuban female triple jumpers Italian female triple jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Italy Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Cuba Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Cuban emigrants to Italy Naturalised citizens of Italy Sportspeople from Camagüey World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Italy Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Italian Athletics Championships winners