She attended her first Summer Olympics in 1992, participating in the high jump. She switched to the triple jump when it was given world championships status and won an Olympic bronze medal in the discipline at the 1996 Atlanta Games. She won another bronze at the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships and improved further by becoming the world champion at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics – her winning jump of 15.20 m was the second-farthest ever at the time.