Shana L. Williams (born April 7, 1972) is a retired American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed 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 ...

. She is a two-time Olympian, having competed in her event at the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

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 ...

. Williams won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the

1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 7th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the Green Dome Maebashi stadium in Maebashi, Japan from March 5 to March 7, 1999. It was the first time the Championships were staged outside Europe or North America. Primo Nebiolo, ...

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It wa ...

. Her personal best of 7.01 m ranks her as the fifth best American in the long jump on the all-time lists. She is a two-time USA Indoor champion and also won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the

1998 Goodwill Games The 1998 Goodwill Games was the fourth edition of the international sports competition the Goodwill Games, which were created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. The competition was held i ...

Career

Born in

Bridgeton, New Jersey Bridgeton is a city in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the county seat of Cumberland County Bridgeton High School Bridgeton High School is a comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the city of Bridgeton, in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Bridgeton Public S ...

(graduating in 1989) before moving on to

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...

. She began to focus on track and field more while attending college, competing in various disciplines as a

heptathlete A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

, and had much success in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

.Shana Williams

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

. Retrieved on 2011-01-13. She won thirteen Big East track titles at Seton Hall, including four consecutive

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

titles as well as long jump victories in 1990 and 1991. In her final year at the college she came third in the long jump at the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Outdoor Championships, finished seventh at the

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olym ...

, and set a personal record of 6.63 meters to rank fourth nationally for the 1993 season. She also competed at 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 ...

that year, coming seventh in the heptathlon.Williams Shana

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. Retrieved on 2011-01-13. Her track career faltered early in 1994 from severe leg injury but Coaches Timothy and Lawrence Athill coached her back onto the track. Later that year she began working as the Director of Academic Advisement at the

University of Albany A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. However, she again took up the long jump in seriousness the following year, moving to

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

to work under the tutelage of

Elżbieta Krzesińska Elżbieta Maria Krzesińska (née Duńska; November 11, 1934 – December 29, 2015) was a track and field athlete from Poland, who competed in the long jump. Born in Warsaw, she competed for her native country at the 1956 Summer Olympic ...

– a Polish Olympic champion and former

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder in the event. Williams came second in the long jump behind

Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in tho ...

at the 1995

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...

and thus qualified for 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 ...

. In her first major international appearance, she came fourth in her qualifier but did not reach the final. She greatly improved the following year, winning the US Indoor title with a best of 6.79 m and then improving this further to 7.01 m at the US Olympic Track Trials. She was runner-up at the trials to Joyner-Kersee but as a top three finisher she gained automatic qualification into the

1996 Atlanta 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, ...

. On her Olympic debut on home soil she failed to record a mark, fouling three times, and was eliminated from the competition.Shana Williams
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-01-13. She came second at the 1997 US Indoors behind

Dawn Burrell Dawn C. Burrell (born November 1, 1973) is an American chef and retired long jumper. She won the gold medal at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships

and was selected for 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 ...

, where she finished twelfth in the final. She was fourth at the outdoor nationals and finished the year with a season's best of 6.64 m. She regained her form in the 1998 season, taking second place at both the indoor and outdoor US Championships, and jumped 6.97 m in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in April. She took the long jump

at the

, beating reigning world champion Lyudmila Galkina with a wind-assisted mark of 6.93 m. She closed the season with a sixth-place finish 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 ...

and her performances ranked her as the seventh best jumper in the world and second best American. She had her best indoor performances in the next season, taking the national indoor title and competing at the

. In the world long jump competition she set an indoor career best of 6.82 m, which brought her the silver medal behind

Tatyana Kotova Tatyana Vladimirovna Kotova (russian: Татьяна Владимировна Котова, born 11 December 1976) is a track and field athlete who competed for Russia in the long jump. Her personal best jump of 7.42 m at Annecy in 2002, is th ...

. Williams was third at that year's outdoor US Championships and had her season's best jump of 6.76 m in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

in July. By merit of her national performance, she earned selection for 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 ...

. In her only appearance at the competition, she finished twelfth in the final. After second place at the 2000 indoor nationals, she set her sights on making the US Olympic Team. She cleared 6.80 m and then had a wind-assisted jump of 6.87 m, taking third place and a spot at the Olympics. Competing at the

2000 Sydney 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 ...

, she failed to progress past the qualifiers into the Olympic long jump final, managing 21st overall. Her final US Outdoor appearance came the following year, where she took fourth place in the long jump.History of US Nationals Results: Long Jump
. ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

''. Retrieved on 2011-01-13. In 1997, she pursued a master's degree in

exercise science Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

gaining her diploma in 2001.

Major competition record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Shana 1972 births Living people American female long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Bridgeton High School alumni Olympic track and field athletes for the United States People from Bridgeton, New Jersey Seton Hall Pirates women's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Cumberland County, New Jersey Syracuse University alumni Track and field athletes from New Jersey Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games