Slobodan Branković ( sr, Слободан Бранковић; born 1 October 1967) is a

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 ...

n former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who specialised in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

. He is currently the general secretary of the

Athletics Federation of Serbia The Athletics Federation of Serbia ( sr, Српски атлетски савез; Srpski atletski savez) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Serbia. Olympic Games World Championships ''included: IAAF: World outdoor championship, ...

. He competed internationally for the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

and then the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

. He represented the former nation at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

, but (like a handful of other Yugoslavian athletes) competed as an individual under no flag at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. Branković was the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

list over

at the

1992 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1992 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in 1992 in Genoa, Italy. This was the first edition to be held biannually and not annually and also the first to be held over three days as opposed to two. It also marked the debut of the ...

, a feat which gained him the "

Golden Badge ''Sport'' ( sr-Cyrl, Спорт) was a Serbian daily sports newspaper. The first edition was published on 5 May 1945 under the name ''Fiskultura'' and the last edition went out on 17 September 2016. Since the mid-2000s it was billed as "Dnevni s ...

" as the '' Спорт'' newspaper's Yugoslav sportsperson of the year. He participated in the

IAAF World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

on three occasions (1987, 1991, 1993). He set Yugoslavian records in the

4×400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

and remains the holder of a variety of indoor and outdoor Serbian national records in distances from

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

to 400 m.

Career

Born in

Obrenovac Obrenovac ( sr-cyr, Обреновац, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 71,419 inhabitants, while the urban area has 24,568 inhabitants. The largest Serbian th ...

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 ...

and affiliated with the city's athletic club,

AK Partizan AK Partizan or Atletski Klub Partizan is an athletics club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is part of the sports society JSD Partizan. History The club was founded in 1945, being among the first five clubs of JSD Partizan. Honours Men *National ...

, he made his first appearance on the world stage representing the

. Forming part of the

team at the

1987 World Championships in Athletics The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987. Men's results Track 1983 , 1987 ...

, he ran a national Yugoslavian record time of 3:03.30 minutes with Branislav Karaulić,

Slobodan Popović Slobodan Popović (Cyrillic: Слободан Поповић; born 28 September 1962 in Inđija) is a Serbian former middle distance runner competing primarily in the 800 metres. He represented his country at the 1988 Summer Olympics and in the 1 ...

and

Ismail Mačev Ismail Mačev ( Macedonian: Исмаил Мачев; 3 January 1960 – 21 January 2019) was a Macedonian sprinter who competed for Yugoslavia in the 400 metres. He took part in the 1988 Summer Olympics as well as two World Championships. In a ...

. At the age of twenty, he ran in the

heats at the

1988 Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

and improved the national relay record to 3:01.59 minutes in the semi-finals of the relay event. At the start of 1989 Branković ran an indoor personal best over

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

of 21.24 seconds in Turin – this mark remains the Serbian national record. He narrowly missed out on a medal in the 400 m at the

1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2nd IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Budapest Sportcsarnok in Budapest, Hungary from March 3 to March 5, 1989. There were a total number of 373 participating athletes from 62 countries. Results Men 1985 , 1987 ...

, coming in fourth place behind Spaniard

Cayetano Cornet Cayetano Cornet Pamies ( ca, Gaietà Cornet Pàmies, born August 22, 1963) is a retired 400 metres runner from Spain. He was born in Reus, Catalonia. He won the European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tenni ...

. That same year he completed a Yugoslavian title double over 200 m and 400 m.Yugoslavian Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-06-28. He retained his 200 m title the following year and competed for his nation on home turf for the

1990 European Athletics Championships The 15th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 August to 2 September 1990 in Split, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. The host stadium was Stadion Poljud. It was the last participation of East Germany (which was already scheduled to be merged ...

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

. He ran a career best of 45.30 seconds for the 400 m to qualify for the final (a time which is the current Serbian record) and finished sixth overall. As part of the relay team he helped the Yugoslavian men reach fifth place. Another Yugoslavian relay record came for him at the

1991 World Championships in Athletics The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1. 1517 athletes from 167 countries participa ...

: competing in a team which also featured

Dejan Jovković Dejan Jovković ( sr-cyr, Дејан Јовковић; born 23 July 1968) is a Serbian former sprinter. He competed in the men's 200 metres at the 1992 Summer Olympics as an Independent Olympic Participant Independent or Independents may refe ...

Nenad Đurović Nenad Đurović ( Cyrillic: Ненад Ђуровић; born 17 January 1986) is a Montenegrin retired football defender who mostly played for Sutjeska Nikšić. Club career The first club for which he played for was FK Sutjeska Nikšić from ...

and Mačev, he reached the final of the competition with the country's first sub-three-minute mark for the event (2:59.95 min). The Yugoslavian team came fourth in the relay final, just over two tenths of a second behind bronze medallists Jamaica. Branković won the

at the Yugoslavian championships, but it was over the longer sprint distance that he excelled that year. He won the 400 m

at the

– an achievement which proved to be the pinnacle of his individual running career. Owing to the

dissolution of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, he was one of nine athletes to compete independent of a nation at the

. He reached the quarter-finals of the 400 m at the Games of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Branković was a representative of Europe at the

1992 IAAF World Cup The 6th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 25–27, 1992, at the Estadio Panamericano in Havana, Cuba. Overall res ...

and came fifth overall in the 400 m. For his achievements that year, the sports daily '' Спорт'' nominated him for their "Golden Badge", recognising him as their Yugoslav sportsman of the year. He completed a 100/200 m double at the national championships in 1993 with personal best times of 10.33 seconds and 20.98 seconds, respectively (his 100 m time was the fastest ever run at the championships at that point). Later that year, he took part in the

1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having ori ...

and ran in the heats of the 200 m. His final international performance came in the heats of the 400 m at the

1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France from March 7 to March 9, 1997. It was the first athletic championships to introduce women's pole vault. There were a total numb ...

. Following his retirement from athletic competition, he moved into the field of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

administration and rose to the position of general secretary at the

. He led the organising committee for the

2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held between 3 and 5 March 2017 at the Kombank Arena in Belgrade, Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ...

held in Belgrade.Media Guide
Belgrade2017. Retrieved on 2017-03-04.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brankovic, Slobodan Living people 1967 births Athletes from Belgrade Serbian male sprinters Yugoslav male sprinters Olympic athletes of Yugoslavia Olympic athletes as Independent Olympic Participants Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Yugoslavia Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Yugoslavia Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Yugoslavia

Career

See also

References

External links