| Fred Salle | |
| Nationality: | English |
| Birth Date: | 10 September 1964 |
| Sport: | Long jump |
Frédéric Ebong-Salle,[1] better known as Fred Salle (born 10 September 1964) is a male retired athlete who specialized in the long jump.
He represented Great Britain for most of his career, except for a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he represented Cameroon. His personal best jump of 8.10 metres was achieved at the 1994 IAAF World Cup, which he won; he also won the silver medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, representing England.[2] [3]
Starting in the 1986 - 87 indoor season, Salle opted to represent Cameroon.[4] He competed in a high jump meeting in December 1986, jumping a personal best of . His best jump while representing England had been 2.13 metres, achieved in May 1985 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[4]
Salle competed internationally for his new country, starting at the 1987 World Championships, though he did not reach the final round.[5] At the 1987 Central African Games, he won the gold medals in both long and high jump,[6] and at the 1988 African Championships, he won the silver medal in the long jump - behind Yusuf Alli - and the bronze medal in the high jump.[7] He then competed at the 1988 Olympic Games, but 7.65 metres in the qualifying round was not enough to reach the final.[1] At the 1989 World Indoor Championships he only managed 7.31 metres, ending in last place of the qualifying round.[8] At the 1991 World Indoor Championships, he ended third to last with 7.11 metres.[9] He won a silver medal as a guest competitor at the AAA Indoor Championships of 1990.[10]
By 1992 he returned to representing Great Britain in competitions.[11] He competed at the World Championships in 1993 and 1995 as well as the 1995 World Indoor Championships without reaching the final.[5] However, he won the 1994 IAAF World Cup competition in London with a jump of 8.10 metres.[12] This was Salle's personal best jump. He did have one wind-assisted 8.10 result in the same year, achieved in July in Gateshead.[4] He represented England, at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.[13] [14] [15]
In domestic competitions, he won several medals. At the UK Championships, he won a bronze medal in 1992 and a silver in 1993.[11] At the AAA Championships, he won gold medals in 1993 and 1995 and a silver in 1994.[16] At the AAA Championships, he won the bronze medal in 1993, behind two Swedish guests.[10]
After working at many different ICT firms, Fred Salle had turned his passion to teaching, inspiring many young people to achieve through telling them of his own experiences.