Like Father, Like Daughter
THE world loves to watch her and she engages the world. She excites, she entertains and she pulls spectators into the competition with her. She likes to strike a pose here, break out into a celebratory dance move there, invite the crowd into clapping her on, and she just loves to watch Usain Bolt go.
This is Blanka Vlasic, the current Croatian high jump record holder, and reigning World indoor and outdoor champion with a personal best jump of 2.08m or 6ft. 9¾in., the second highest cleared by a woman and only one centimeter off the 24-year-old world record.
In addition, she is the 2008 Olympic silver medalist, who has a string of Diamond League and European Championships wins under her belt.
Last year, the 27-yr-old scorpion was named the world’s Best Female Athlete by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and was nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award.
Svelte and Towering
Equiped with a svelte figure and the towering height of 6’4”, Blanka – who doesn’t eat ice cream because she isn’t allowed to have sweets – stands out in any crowd. And with her striking facial features and statuesque gait, she seems to have been crafted for the runway and fashion magazine covers.
However, the Croatian star who drives an older model BMW X5 harbors no desire for such a job. Maybe it’s because she had no choice in the matter but to take the athletic career that her parents’ DNA gave her. After all, Blanka’s mother was a basketball player and national-level cross-country skier and her father, an international decathlete, who was competing for Croatia at the Mediterranean Games in the Moroccan city capital of Casablanca when Blanka was born — hence her name.
Surprisingly, her on-the-field theatrics do not reflect her true personality, she says. “Sometimes I am even surprised about my behavior in competition; I guess it’s the energy that drives me,” she explained.
“I am always under the impression that in private life, I’m more of a shy person than I am on the field; maybe my friends wouldn’t agree, said Blanka laughingly, between her halting English. “Yah, it’s just those moments when everybody is clapping and you feel that energy from the crowd, you just want to show your emotions.”
She believes that sports isn’t only about results and reaching one’s maximum [potential]. “It’s also a show so, people come and they want to see you cry, smile, scream. And you cannot tell them [how you feel] because it’s so many of them…and the noise in the stadium. So you show it. I guess that’s how my dance developed.”
As a young girl, Blanka’s father would take her to the track with him while he trained. Initially, she dreamed of becoming a professional sprinter, but decided on taking up the high jump because she was so tall and slender and that event best suited her. Her jumping talent was nurtured early by her athletic parents, with father Josko determining all parameters of the training process, and arranging her sporting and social activities.
Great Relationship With Father
Today he remains one of Blanka’s two coaches. Former high jumper Bojan Marinović is the other who travels with her for technical support. The senior and junior Vlasics pair is a rare example of a father and daughter simultaneously holding national athletics records. His decathlon personal best, set in 1984, still stands as the Croatian record.
While in New York for the first time recently to compete in the adidas Grand Prix meet, Blanka underscored the close relationship she enjoys with her father after a few trying teen-age years of learning, in which they frequently bumped heads.
Blanka now sees her father as the man who knows her so much; he can read her every emotion and they think so much alike. “By just looking at me, he can tell if I’m having a bad day or if I’m just not up to something. It’s a blessing to have a father like him,” she said.