Niurka Montalvo Amaro (born June 4, 1968, in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

) is a former Cuban and Spanish athlete who specialised in the

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 ...

and

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 ...

events. Her greatest achievement came in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, 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. Senior medals soon followed: at the

Central American and Caribbean Championships The Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships is an international track and field athletics event organised by the Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation (CACAC). Only athletes representing a member nation of the confeder ...

she won the long jump gold at the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

edition, and another gold came at the

1990 Central American and Caribbean Games The 16th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Mexico City the capital of Mexico from November 20 to December 3, 1990, and included a total of 4,206 competitors from 29 nations, the largest the games had ever seen. The 1990 Central A ...

. Her first appearance at global level came at the

1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 3rd IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo in Seville, Spain from March 8 to March 10, 1991. It was the first Indoor Championships to include relay races as well as women's triple j ...

, 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 The 1993 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics were held at the Estadio Pascual Guerrero in Cali, Colombia between 30 July − 1 August. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table See also *1993 in athletic ...

and the

1993 Central American and Caribbean Games The 17th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. The Games were held 19–30 November 1993, and included 3,570 athletes from 31 nations. History of the 1993 Games Organization and planning The ...

. That year she went on to become the

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

champion in the triple jump and just missed out on the medals with a fourth-place finish at the

1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having ori ...

. She represented America at the

1994 IAAF World Cup The 7th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 9–11, 1994, at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, Engl ...

and won the long jump silver behind

Inessa Kravets Inessa Mykolajivna Kravets (née Shulyak, uk, Інеса Миколаївна Кравець; born 5 October 1966) is a Ukrainian former triple jumper and long jumper. She was among the most prominent female triple jumpers during the period that ...

with a best mark of 6.70 m. The 1995 season was a breakthrough for Montalvo as she won triple jump silver and long jump at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

before going on to win her first world medal – a jump of 6.86 m brought her a silver medal behind

Fiona May Fiona May Iapichino (born 12 December 1969 in Slough, England) is a retired track and field athlete who competed for the United Kingdom and later Italy in the long jump. She won the World Championships twice and two Olympic silver medals. Her perso ...

in the long jump final at the

1995 World Championships in Athletics The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden on 5–13 August 1995. This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nat ...

. She had mixed fortunes in triple jump that year, finishing sixth at the

1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, 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 The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

or the

1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France from March 7 to March 9, 1997. It was the first athletic championships to introduce women's pole vault. There were a total numb ...

and a fifth place at the

1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final The 1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the fourteenth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 5 September at the Luzhn ...

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 7th World Championships in Athletics, a World Athletic Championships event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and Augu ...

. The

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n Athletics Federation blocked her participation in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, and in addition, she was reportedly included on a list of possible assassination targets for

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

.Turnbull, Simon (2001-09-30)
Long jumper in hit-list shock
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. Retrieved on 2010-03-16. 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 The 2000 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the sixteenth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 5 October at the Khalifa ...

and then at the

2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 8th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Pavilhão Atlântico in Lisbon, Portugal from March 9 to March 11, 2001. It was the first time the Championships had been held in Portugal. There were a total number of 511 part ...

and the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...

. 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 The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

. She finished seventh in the long jump final at the

2006 European Athletics Championships The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit". Gothenburg also hosted the 1995 World Champions ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

at the age of 38.

Personal Bests

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten Hurdling, hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first h ...

- 13.57 (1990) *

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 ...

- 7.06 (1999) *

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 ...

- 14.60 (1994)

International competitions

References

External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montalvo, Niurka 1968 births Living people Spanish female long jumpers Cuban female long jumpers Cuban female triple jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1995 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba Pan American Games silver medalists for Cuba Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Cuba Olympic athletes for Spain World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Cuba World Athletics Championships athletes for Spain Cuban emigrants to Spain Defecting sportspeople from Cuba Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Spain Athletes (track and field) at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Cuba Competitors at the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics FISU World University Games gold medalists for Cuba World Athletics Championships winners Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Medalists at the 1993 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Spanish Athletics Championships winners Cuban Athletics Championships winners