EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIP – GÖTEBORG 2006 (C)

Motif: Graphic simulation of the track competition Judging by the interest of sponsors and the media for this type of sports events, European athletics championships have, in the recent decades, been ranked immediately after the Olympic Games, world and European football championships and world athletics championships. The first European athletics championship was held in Turin in 1934, and since then is being held every fourth year, despite the effort to have it organized more frequently – every second or third year. To date 18 championships have been held, as follows: 1934 in Turin, 1938 in Paris, 1946 in Oslo, 1950 in Brussels, 1954 in Bern, 1958 in Stockholm, 1962 in Belgrade, 1966 in Budapest, 1969 in Athens, 1971 in Helsinki, 1974 in Rome, 1978 in Prague, 1982 in Athens, 1986 in Stuttgart, 1990 in Split, 1994 in Helsinki, 1998 in Budapest and 2002 in Munich. Croatian athletes made their appearance at all the European championships (except at the one in Paris), starting from the year 1934 – where the four-member team of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia included three members of the Zagreb clubs “Concordia” and “HAŠK”: the hurdler Ivo Buratović, hammer thrower Petar Goić and shot-putter Aleksa Kovačević – until the latest, the 18th European championship in Munich, 2002, where Siniša Ergotić, a member of the “Mladost” club, won the silver medal in the long jump. What is going to be recorded forever in the history of Croatian athletics is the gold medal of Luciano Sušanj from Rijeka who won the 800m race at the European Athletics Championship in Split in 1990, the event that was held in exceptionally unfavourable political circumstances in the course of the undergoing dissolution of Yugoslavia, when the championship was very close to being cancelled. Since the attainment of independence, Croatian women and men athletes participated at the European championships in Helsinki, Budapest and Munich, but only Branko Zorko and Siniša Ergotić could boast to have won a medal. At the European Athletics Championship in Helsinki, Branko Zorko from Križevci won the bronze medal in the 1,500m track, while Siniša Ergotić, born in Osijek but living in Zagreb, won the silver medal in the long jump competition in Munich. The winner of the last mentioned European medal, Siniša Ergotić, has taken up the function of the selector of the Croatian national athletics team, and he will lead the Croatian national athletic team at the European Championship in Göteborg from 7th to 13th August 2006. A record number of our representatives will participate at this championship – as many as 14 of them. Our country’s colours will be defended by five women athletes: Blanka Vlašić (high jump), Ivana Brkljačić and Sanja Gavrilović (hammer), Daniela Grgić (400m), and Vera Begić (discus). There will also be nine men athletes: Edis Elkasović, Nedžad Mulabegović and Krešimir Rađa (shot put), Željko Vincek (400m), Milan Kotur (400m hurdles), Andras Haklits (hammer), Slavko Petrović (1,000), Jurica Grabušić (110m/100m hurdles) and Josip Šoprek (200m). Among the Croatian representatives the athlete who is expected to achieve most is the “high jump” athlete Blanka Vlašić, who has managed to jump over the 205cm bar height this year and has the second best result in the world. Her strongest asset is her constant top form at the heights above 200cm. There are prospects for high placements of other two women athletes, the former world junior champion in hammer throw, Ivana Brkljačić, and the current European junior champion in the 400m track, Danijela Grgić. Among the men athletes we hope for a good placement of the former world junior champion in the shot put, Edis Elkasović and the current European junior champion in the 400m track, Željko Vincek. Ante Drpić