Blanka Vlašić

For Blanka Vlašić, sport runs in the family name. Her father, Joško, is still the Croatian record holder in the decathlon, and his win at the 1983 Mediterranean in Casablanca inspired him to name his soon-to-be born daughter after the host city that had given him so much good fortune.

And it soon became apparent that Blanka Vlašić had inherited much of her father’s talent. In 2000, at the age of just sixteen, she competed in the Sydney Olympics, just missing the final by one place. A few weeks after the Olympics, she won the gold medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Santiago, Chile. Vlašić would go on to successfully defend her world junior title two years later in Kingston.

As a young competitor among veterans, Vlašić finished a respectful sixth in her first senior global championships, at the 2001 IAAF World Championships in Edmonton, Canada. The next year she did one better, placing fifth at the European Championships in Munich. At the IAAF World Championships in Paris the next year, Vlašić finished in seventh, but that year marked her first clearance over two meters, which ranked her as the fourth highest jumper of the year.

And while a spot on the medal stand in Athens seemed to be a fair bet, having won the bronze medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest earlier that winter. But when she failed to jump higher than 1.93 (having cleared 2.03 earlier in the season), something seemed wrong. Medical examines showed a thyroid disorder, which called for surgery and the cancellation of her 2005 season.

Coming back from illness in 2006, Vlašić put herself back on the map with a 2.05 indoor national record and a silver medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Moscow. And though another medal in the summer seemed a likely prospect, it was not to be: Vlašić finished with the dubious distinction of being the first woman to ever clear two meters in an international championship and finish in fourth place.

This no doubt served as motivation for Vlašić during the 2007 season. She racked up an impressive string of victories, winning 17 our of 18 competitions, including a 2.07 national record jump in Stockholm, a clearance which made her the second highest outdoor jumper of all-time. Following this, it was no surprise that, just three weeks later, she captured the gold medal at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka. She ended the year as the clear number one jumper in the world, and continued that form into the 2008 winter, at the conclusion of which she confirmed her world outdoor title by capturing her first gold at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. It’s a dominant pattern of winning that Vlašić will look to replicate in Beijing.