‘Discus Queen’ Sandra Perković Returns to Zagreb After Historic Success

Sandra Perkovic, the world’s best discus thrower, became the first athlete in history to win five consecutive gold medals at the European Championships.

Discus Queen Sandra Perković won her fifth gold medal at the European Championship on Saturday and was welcomed at the Zagreb Airport on Monday night by many fans, journalists, and tamburitza music, reports Index.hr on August 14, 2018. 

Sandra has become the first in history, counting both men’s and women’s competitions, to win five consecutive European Championship titles in the same individual discipline.

The athlete arrived at Zagreb Airport at 21:00 on Monday night. 

“We have won this together, we have written history together. I brought the fifth gold to Croatia. If the fifth gold was won easily, everyone would win it,” Sandra said first upon her return from Berlin to Zagreb.

“The gold is around my neck. I do not know if it shines the same as my first gold I won in 2010. You all saw how difficult this last competition was.”

“I tried to stay concentrated in the difficult moments. After the first throws went into the net, I had to change my tactics. After three series and three ‘X’s,’ we discussed what we should do now and decided to go all or nothing, and see what happens. After the fourth throw and another foul, I started to get mixed emotions. I did not want to leave the throw I was saving for the end, before the German audience. When I saw that the fifth disc went out, my happiness was immeasurable.”

Sandra claims that she learned a lot from Saturday’s competition.

“It was a lot easier for me last year, then I was more focused. This time I knew I was a lot better than the other competitors and that I could take the gold myself… I did not crumble under pressure, but… I learned a lot from this competition and I hope that we will never see this kind of competition again,” Sandra added. 

And what’s next?

“We’re going station to station. I am turning to the Diamond League and the Hanžeković Memorial. I can throw even further, this is not my real distance.”

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

the fields marked with * are required

Email: *
First name:
Last name:
Gender:	Male Female
Country:
Birthday:	[DD] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 [MM] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 [YYYY] 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Please don't insert text in the box below!