Blanka Vlašić
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| Date of birth | November 8, 1983 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth |  Croatia |
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| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kilograms (165 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country | Croatia |
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| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals | 2nd (Beijing, 2008) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest world ranking | 1st (Osaka, 2007) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | High jump (outdoor): 2.07 m High jump (indoor): 2.05 m[1] |
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Blanka Vlašić (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈblanka ˈʋlaʃitɕ]) (born 8 November 1983) is a Croatian athlete who specialises in the high jump. She is the current Croatian record holder in the event, and also the current World Champion both indoors and outdoors. Her personal best jump of 2.07 m was set on 7 August 2007 and is the joint third highest height cleared in the history of the event. At six feet and four inches (1.93 m) she is taller than most male high jumpers.
The daughter of Croatian record holder, Joško Vlašic, she was a talented junior athlete and attended her first Olympic Games in 2000 Sydney at the age of sixteen. She won the World Junior Championships in Athletics in both 2000 and 2002. Vlašić broke her national record in 2004 and also won her first world senior medal at the World Indoor Championships that year. A hyperthyroid condition marred her second Olympic appearance in Athens and she spent the 2005 season recuperating from surgery.
She returned in 2006, taking the silver at the World Indoor Championships. In the 2007–08 seasons she won gold medals at both the indoor and outdoor World Championships, the World Athletics Final, and won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics. She ranks third in the all-time high jump rankings, behind Kajsa Bergqvist and Stefka Kostadinova.[2][3]
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[edit] Early life
Blanka Vlašić was born on 8 November 1983 in Split, Croatia. From a young age, it was natural for her to be involved in sports: her mother was a seasoned amateur in basketball and cross country skiing while her father, Joško Vlašic, was an international athlete who broke the Croatian record in the decathlon.[4] Her father brought her to the track while he practised and she dreamed of becoming a professional sprinter.[5] As she grew up she tried a number of sports but found that the high jump was particularly well-suited to her tall and slender frame.[4] Vlašić shunned the idea of competing in more profitable sports, such as basketball, saying that she preferred the thrill of individual sports.[5] She reached the international standard for a high jumper at an early age, setting a personal best of 1.80 metres at fifteen years of age and quickly improving to 1.93 m at sixteen.[1]
[edit] Junior career
Accordingly, she had an early start in international competition: she competed at the inaugural World Youth Championships, finishing eighth,[6] and represented her country for the first time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Although the Olympics showed that she was not ready to compete at the senior level, she proved herself to be more than proficient at the junior level by winning the 2000 World Junior Championships with a jump of 1.91 m.[7] She was a regular competitor at senior athletics meetings and was steadily improving, qualifying for further top-level senior events. Vlašić finished sixth at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton with a mark of 1.94 m, a result which led the IAAF's Ed Gordon to mark her out as a future star in the event.[8] She rounded off the year by winning her first senior gold medal at an international tournament, taking first place at the 2001 Mediterranean Games.[9]
The results of Vlašić's final year as a junior showed further development as a high jumper. She set a new indoor best of 1.92 m at the 2002 European Indoor Championships and was the favourite to win the 2002 World Juniors.[1][5] She won the competition by a margin of nine centimetres, setting a new personal best of 1.96 m and attempting the symbolic two metres height. She failed to pass the bar but remained pleased with her achievements: "This was the first time I tried the 2-metre mark. That would have been a bonus. Today what matters is the gold. I am very happy I retained my world junior title".[10] At the final major event of the season, the European Championships, she could not repeat her previous form and finished in fifth place.[5] Nevertheless, at the end of the year she was ranked in the top ten high jumpers in the world for the season.[11]
[edit] Rising contender
The start to the 2003 athletics season was promising – she set a new personal best in Linz with a jump of 1.98 m and finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships ten days later, her highest finish in a major world tournament.[1][12] June and July yielded further progress, jumping 1.98 m again and improving to 1.99 m to win her first IAAF Golden League event at the Gaz de France. Days later, she jumped the two metres height for the first time on home soil at the Zagreb IAAF Grand Prix.[5] Although Hestrie Cloete won the competition overall, Vlašić's defeat of the psychological barrier and improved personal best was the highlight of the meeting and Cloete praised the young athlete's performance.[13] Vlašić took gold at the 2003 European Athletics Under-23 Championships,[14] and then she improved her best by another centimetre at the Zürich Grand Prix which qualified her for the World Championships and the first IAAF World Athletics Final. Despite such previous highs, her season ended on a low note as she failed to win a medal at either the World Championships (finishing seventh with 1.95 m) or the Athletics Final in Paris (ending up fourth with 1.96 m).[5][15] Although she had failed to reach the podium at the major championships, only three athletes managed to jump higher than her personal and season's best of 2.01 m in 2003.[16]
[edit] National record and health problems
Vlasic started the season well with a bronze medal performance at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in March. She regularly reached the podium at meetings in the outdoor season and won the 2004 national championships.[1] A Croatian record breaking jump of 2.03 m in Ljubljana put her in good stead for the 2004 Athens Olympics. However, when she competed at the Olympic high jump final she only managed eleventh place with a jump of 1.89 m. Following this, Vlašić did not compete for almost a year: she admitted that she was feeling lethargic and shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with a hyperthyroid condition.[5]
Surgery and recovery ruled out the vast majority of the 2005 athletics season and she only managed to make two competitive appearances.[4] A best of 1.95 m guaranteed her victory at the national championships,[17] but her jump of 1.88 m was not enough to progress into the finals of the 2005 World Championships.[5]
Although her poor health had spoilt her medals chances at the two major championships of 2004 and 2005, Vlašić came back fully recovered and stronger in the 2006 season.[5] She raised her indoor best to 2.05 m (a national record) at a meet in Banská Bystrica in February,[18] and took silver at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Although she was beaten to the gold medal by Yelena Slesarenko, she remained positive: "Of course I wanted to win. But when I remember that I was in hospital one year ago it is great."[19] The 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg proved to be a bittersweet experience: she cleared 2.01 m to finish in fourth place, behind Tia Hellebaut, Venelina Veneva and Kajsa Bergqvist. This was the best-ever non-medal winning jump, and bronze medallist Bergqvist had also finished with 2.01 m but had managed it in fewer attempts.[5][14] Vlašić capped the season off with an appearance at the 2006 World Athletics Final but withdrew from the competition after her third jump, finishing sixth.[20]
[edit] World Champion
Although she recorded an indoor season's best of 2.01 m in February,[21] she failed to repeat her previous season's indoor form and finished fifth at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships (later upgraded to fourth after Venelina Veneva tested positive for banned substances).[1][22]
During the 2007 season, Vlašić jumped over two metres in seventeen of her nineteen outdoor competitions, along with several close attempts at a would-be world record of 2.10 m.
Vlašić also won eighteen out of nineteen outdoor competitions, with her only loss coming early in the season at the first Golden League meeting. As the women's high jump was a jackpot event this year, had Vlašić won here, she would have won (along with Russian Pole Vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and American sprinter Sanya Richards) a share of the Golden League jackpot ($1,000,000).
Vlašić's consistency over two metres, and consistency at the first attempt, this season, put her as a firm favourite to challenge for honours at August's World Championships and she proved the expectations had been right. She became a world champion with a jump of 2.05 m.
In early October, Vlašić was named female European Athlete of the Year by the European Athletic Association after the combined votes of a panel of experts, a group of journalists and the public. [23] She is the first Croatian athlete and the first high jumper to win this award.
Vlašić's only loss of the outdoor season came at the Golden League meeting in Oslo. This cost her a share of the $1,000,000 jackpot, which was shared between Sanya Richards and Yelena Isinbayeva.
[edit] Beijing Olympics
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, Vlašić won the silver medal, beaten by the Belgian Tia Hellebaut (both cleared 2.05m, but Vlašić needed one more attempt than Hellebaut). This ended her recent unbeaten streak of 34 competitions. Vlašić's season ended in despair, as she was again beaten on countback in the final leg of the ÅF Golden League series, which ended her chances of winning the $1,000,000 jackpot. Having won the previous 5 Golden League events, she finished in 2nd place to Ariane Friedrich.
[edit] Statistics
- As of 8 May 2009
[edit] Personal bests
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[edit] Major competition record
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[edit] Personal life
Vlašić was named after Casablanca, a city where her father competed at the 1983 Mediterranean Games around the time of her birth.[24]
From the beginning of her career she has been coached by her father, Joško Vlašić and a former high jumper Bojan Marinović.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g Vlašic Blanka Biography. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ High Jump All Time (indoors). IAAF (2009-02-15). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ High Jump All Time (outdoors). IAAF (2008-11-18). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ a b c Blanka Vlasic biography. Spikes Magazine. Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ramsak, Bob (2008-03-05). Focus on Athletes - Blanka Vlasic. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ Official Results - HIGH JUMP - Women - Final. IAAF (1999-07-17). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ Official Results - HIGH JUMP - Women - Final. IAAF (2000-10-20). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ Gordon, Ed (2001-08-12). Cloete gives South Africa Gold. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ Mediterranean Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ It’s Croatia’s day in Kingston. IAAF (2002-07-20). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ High Jump 2002. IAAF (2007-12-13). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ High Jump - W Final. IAAF (2003-03-16). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ Capacity Croatian crowd worships at Vlasic’s temple. IAAF (2003-07-08). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ a b 23-year-old Blanka Vlasic (CRO) wins the Waterford Crystal European Female Athlete of the Year 2007. European Athletics (2007-10-04). Retrieved on 2009-06-18.
- ^ High Jump W. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-06-18.
- ^ High Jump 2003. IAAF (2004-02-16). Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ High Jump 2005. IAAF (2006-01-12). Retrieved on 2009-06-18.
- ^ Vlasic flying high. European Athletics (2006-07-19). Retrieved on 2009-06-18.
- ^ Women's High Jump Final. IAAF (2006-03-12). Retrieved on 2009-06-18.
- ^ High Jump W Final. IAAF (2006-09-09). Retrieved on 2009-06-18.
- ^ High Jump 2007 i. IAAF (2008-04-04). Retrieved on 2009-06-18.
- ^ 29th European Athletics Indoor Championships. European Athletics. Retrieved on 2009-06-18.
- ^ 23-year-old Blanka Vlasic (CRO) wins the Waterford Crystal European Female Athlete of the Year 2007
- ^ Sport - Yahoo!Xtra Sport
[edit] External links
| Awards | ||
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Preceded by Carolina Klüft |
Women's European Athlete of the Year 2007 |
Succeeded by Yelena Isinbayeva |
Preceded by Janica Kostelić Janica Kostelić |
Croatian Sportswoman of the Year 2004 2007 – 2008 |
Succeeded by Janica Kostelić Incumbent |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by Kajsa Bergqvist |
Women's High Jump Best Year Performance 2007 – 2008 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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