Ivan Ivančić (6 December 1937 – 28 August 2014) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n athletics coach and

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

ter who represented

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. He was the gold medalist in the 1975 Mediterranean Games, as well as a multiple national champion and record holder. As a coach, Ivančić specialized in the throwing events, and was best known for coaching Sandra Perković, an Olympic and two-time World

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

champion.

Biography

Ivančić was born in 1937 in the village of Grabovica, Tomislavgrad in present-day

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. He finished elementary school and high school in

Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...

, and graduated from the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

. Ivančić described his entry into athletics as "coincidental": while employed at the Ministry of Transportation in Belgrade, he occasionally competed in shot put at workers' sports games, and good results prompted him to take up athletics more seriously. He joined the AK Crvena Zvezda athletics club, where he spent a total of 24 years, interrupted by a four-year spell with AK Partizan, a rival Belgrade club. He worked as a school teacher for 35 years. Ivančić became the top Yugoslav shot putter in the early to mid-1970s. He won the Yugoslav championship seven times (1970–1975, 1977) and improved the national record six times. He won a gold medal in

in the 1975 Mediterranean Games, bronze in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, and two bronze medals in the 1980 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 1983 European Athletics Indoor Championships. In addition, he represented Yugoslavia in the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and 1976 Summer Olympic Games and in the

1983 World Championships in Athletics The 1st World Championships in Athletics (; ) were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium (Helsinki), Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between 7 and 14 August 1983 ...

in Helsinki, placing 19th, 16th and 12th respectively. His appearance in the shot put final in Helsinki, at the age of 45 years 244 days, makes Ivančić the oldest ever World Championships competitor in shot put, as well as the oldest ever World Championships finalist in any event. On 31 August 1983 in

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

, less than a month after the Helsinki final, Ivančić set his personal best of 20.77 m. , this is the world masters record in the M45 category (men 45–49 years of age); no other athlete in this age category has managed to come within two and a half meters of this mark. His 1980 mark of 20.44 m was also a world masters record in the M40 category until it was surpassed in 1985. Ivančić retired from professional competition in 1987, at the age of 50. For some time, he was active in veterans' competitions, but has given them up because he "could not accept the fact that the shot would not go over 20 meters, like it had before". He died in 2014 at the age of 76.

Coaching career

Ivančić entered into coaching in the 1970s, while still actively competing, working with Vladimir Milić and Jovan Lazarević, gold medalists in shot put for Yugoslavia at the Mediterranean Games in 1979 and 1983, respectively. After the

breakup of Yugoslavia After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...

, Ivančić coached Croatian athletes such as Edis Elkasević, world junior champion and world junior record holder in shot put, and gold medalist at the Mediterranean Games; Marin Premeru, world youth record holder in shot put; Ivana Brkljačić, double world junior champion in hammer throw; and Darko Kralj, Paralympic champion, world champion and world record holder in shot put. Ivančić coached Sandra Perković, the

er, whom he recognized as a talent in discus throw. In her first year with Ivančić, she improved her personal best from 32 to over 50 meters. After winning gold at the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships, Perković became the youngest ever European champion in discus throw at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

, and successfully defended her title two years later in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivancic, Ivan 1937 births 2014 deaths Sportspeople from Tomislavgrad Bosnia and Herzegovina male shot putters Croatian male shot putters Yugoslav male shot putters Olympic athletes for Yugoslavia Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Croatian athletics coaches University of Belgrade Faculty of Sport and Physical Education alumni World record holders in masters athletics Croatian masters athletes Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Athletes (track and field) at the 1975 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1979 Mediterranean Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Yugoslavia Franjo Bučar Award winners Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Yugoslavian Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Bosnia and Herzegovina sportsmen