Saška Sokolov (born 15 May 1995) is a Serbian athlete who competed for her nation in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

, and

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

Career

Saška Sokolov was born in

Pirot Pirot ( sr-cyr, Пирот) is a city and the administrative center of the Pirot District in southeastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the urban area of the city has a population of 38,785, while the population of the city administrative area ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, the daughter of football coach Sasha Sokolov. As a child, she began to participate in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, but as Pirot did not have a women's team, she switched to

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

where she played for ŽRK Pirot. In 2013, she moved to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, where she attended the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation. She had moved to the capital to study defectology. While there, she took up

, and became Junior European Champion within three months. She also won the gold medal in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

. Within a year, she had qualified for the

with a personal best throw of . While at the 2016 Games, she was one of the youngest competitors. Sokolov competed in the F46 class of the women's javelin throw where she finished in sixth place with a longest throw of . She afterwards spoke of her desire to win the event at the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. She competed at the 2018 European Championships, where she won a bronze medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokolov, Saska Paralympic athletes for Serbia Sportspeople from Pirot Serbian female javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Living people 1995 births 21st-century Serbian women Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Serbian shot putters Paralympic javelin throwers Paralympic shot putters Serbian female sprinters