Shana Williams

Shana L. Williams (born April 7, 1972) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the long jump. She is a two-time Olympian, having competed in her event at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. Williams won the silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Maebashi. 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 at the 1998 Goodwill Games.

Career

Born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, she attended Bridgeton High School (graduating in 1989) before moving on to Seton Hall University. She began to focus on track and field more while attending college, competing in various disciplines as a heptathlete, and had much success in the Big East Conference. She won thirteen Big East track titles at Seton Hall, including four consecutive high jump 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 Outdoor Championships, finished seventh at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and set a personal record of 6.63 meters to rank fourth nationally for the 1993 season.

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. However, she again took up the long jump in seriousness the following year, moving to Eugene, Oregon to work under the tutelage of Elżbieta Krzesińska – a Polish Olympic champion and former world record holder in the event. Williams came second in the long jump behind Jackie Joyner-Kersee at the 1995 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships and thus qualified for the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships. On her Olympic debut on home soil she failed to record a mark, fouling three times, and was eliminated from the competition.

She came second at the 1997 US Indoors behind Dawn Burrell and was selected for the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships, where she finished twelfth in the final. She closed the season with a sixth-place finish at the 1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final and her performances ranked her as the seventh best jumper in the world and second best American. Williams was third at that year's outdoor US Championships and had her season's best jump of 6.76 m in Linz in July. In 1997, she pursued a master's degree in exercise science from Syracuse University gaining her diploma in 2001.

Major competition record