Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-0623-027, Yvonne Mai (cropped)

Yvonne Graham (née Grabner, formerly Mai; born 22 August 1965) is a retired female middle distance runner who specialized in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

. She represented

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and later

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, before attaining

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n citizenship in 1993. She won a bronze medal at the

1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2nd IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Budapest Sportcsarnok in Budapest, Hungary from March 3 to March 5, 1989. There were a total number of 373 participating athletes from 62 countries. Results Men 1985 , 1987 ...

Career

Graham was born in

Annaberg-Buchholz Annaberg-Buchholz () is a town in Saxony, Germany. Lying in the Ore Mountains, it is the capital of the district of Erzgebirgskreis. Geography The town is located in the Ore Mountains, at the side of the ''Pöhlberg'' ( above sea level). Hi ...

Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt The Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt, also known as Bezirk Chemnitz, was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Karl-Marx-Stadt, renamed back to Chemnitz during the reunification of Germany. History The Chemn ...

. Under her maiden name of Yvonne Grabner, she first came to prominence in 1983 competing for East Germany, winning a bronze medal at the 1983 European Junior Championships. Later, she married fellow East German athlete, Volker Mai. While competing as Yvonne Mai, she won a bronze medal at the 1989 World Indoor Championships. She competed for

until 1990 and then a United

. In 1993 she married

n 400 m hurdler

Winthrop Graham Winthrop Graham (born 17 November 1965 in Westmoreland, Jamaica) is a retired athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres hurdles. He won two Olympic medals and three World Championship medals. His personal best time was 47.60 seconds, achie ...

and obtained Jamaican citizenship. She holds the Jamaican national records for

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

, and

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

Achievements

Personal bests

- 4:01.84 min (1995) *One mile - 4:22.97 min (1990) *

- 8:37.07 min (1995) *

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

- 15:07.91 min (1995) *

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

- 1:58.32 (1990)

References

* 1965 births Living people People from Annaberg-Buchholz People from Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt East German female middle-distance runners German female middle-distance runners Sportspeople from Saxony Jamaican female middle-distance runners World Athletics Championships athletes for Jamaica World Athletics Championships athletes for Germany World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists {{Germany-middledistance-athletics-bio-stub