Nenad Stekić

Shocking European Record in the long-jump

Nenad Stekić was one of the best ever European long jumpers despite failing on many occasions to determine himself as a major force, but his two decades long and rather distinguished career saw him winning many international medals and setting many national and one European Record. He first showed flashes of talent when finishing third at the 1970 European Junior Championships in Paris. Nenad improved by huge margin in future years capturing his first Yugoslav title in 1972. He retained it next year with 7.96 m jump and then went on to win his first title at the Balkan Games in Athens with wind-assisted 8.12 m. He further improved in 1974 to set new national record of 8.24 m (second best in the World that year) and retained his national and Balkan titles. Later in the year, he competed at the European Championships in Rome and was the biggest gold medal contender as many times in the future. There he won his first major medal when produced leap of 8.04 m to finish at second place, beaten by Soviet Valeriy Podluzhny. Stekic had phenomenal season in 1975, highlighted with new European Record in the long-jump on 25 July at Montreal where he produced second best jump of 8.45 m in the history, only behind Beamon's World Record. That same year, he became champion at the Mediterranean Games in Algiers with wind-aided 8.23 m and came second at the World Student Games in Roma, producing 8.13 m. In 1975 Stekic topped the yearis lists for the first time in career. After great season in 1975, Stekic was strong contender for at least an Olympic medal in Montreal next year and showed fine form when produced windy 8.39 m on 2 June at Torino prior to the Games. The pressure of national expectations that he can bring the gold to Yugoslavia reflected negatively on his Montreal performance and he finished 6th in the long-jump final, with a best jump of 7.89 m.

Second European silver at Prague

Coming from the Olympic disappointment, Stekic again had very successful season in 1977, recording his best long-jump of the year of 8.27 m to again top the rest of the World. He won the gold medal at the World Student Games at Sofia and again produced many long-jumps over 8 m, winning the Yugoslaw Championships with a leap of 8.14 m. Stekic was chosen to represent the Europe at the first World Cup held in Düsseldorf, but there he again showed inconsistency when reached modest 7.79 m to place him 4th. Stekic topped the World for the third time in previous four years in 1978 when recorded the long-jump of 8.32 m on 16 September at Rovereto. If he produced it one week earlier, he would be a European Champion, but in the long-jump final at the continental Champs in Prague, Stekic managed to jump 8.12 m to earn him another silver medal, 6 cm behind the gold medalist, Jaques Rousseau (France). He competed at similar level in 1979 and produced 4th best long-jump of the year when winning his fifth Balkan title at the Games in Athens. Stekic also successfully retained his Mediterranean title when winning at home soil at Split in a championship record of 8.21 m. In his preparation for the 1980 Olympic Games at Moscow, Stekic won his only medal (silver) at the European Indoor Championships at Sindelfingen and his sixth and final gold at the Balkan Games at Sofia with his season's best of 8.11 m. Sadly, Stekic injured himself in his very first jump in qualifying round at the Olympics, but continued to compete for a decade after that despite far from the form from the '70s. He finished 5th at the 1982 European Championships in Athens and had rather solid season in 1983, winning the European B Cup at Prague with 8.04 m and finishing creditable 5th at the inaugural World Championships at Helsinki with a leap of 8.09 m. He didn't qualify for another Olympic final in 1984, and won his final Yugoslav title in 1985. Stekic did not compete at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart despite produced season's best of 8.19 m and than competed only sparingly until 1991. In the late '80s, Stekić amassed the most jumps over the 8 m mark (later surpassed by Larry Myricks). He is one of the most decorated athletes from former Yugoslavia.