Milena "Milka" Babović (27 October 1928 – 26 December 2020) was a Croatian sprint and hurdles runner and journalist.
 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Milena Babović |
| Born | 27 October 1928[1] Skopje, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes |
| Died | 26 December 2020 (aged 92) Zagreb, Croatia |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | Sprint, hurdles |
| Club | Mladost Zagreb |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best | 80 mH – 11.0 (1957)[1] |
She won numerous sprinting events in the former Yugoslavia, and was selected the best athlete several times. She also had a noted career as a sports journalist and editor in television.
Life
editBabović was born in Skopje to a Montenegrin father and a Syrmian German (Danube Swabian) mother, and grew up in Sarajevo, but moved to Ruma and Belgrade in high school. She graduated in pedagogy at the University of Zagreb.[2][3] Having taken up sports in Ruma, she joined Mladost in Zagreb and started to compete in sprinting events. Starting in 1953, she won the Yugoslav national titles in the 100 m (once), 80 m hurdles (seven), 4 × 100 m relay (seven), and 4 × 200 m relay events (two). She set several Yugoslav sprinting records, and won two international student competitions in the 80 m hurdles in 1953 and 1957; at the 1954 European Championships she placed fifth.[2] In the Sportske novosti awards polling, she was voted the best female athlete in Croatia three times and was twice the best female athlete of Yugoslavia.[2]
She worked as a sports journalist for Narodni sport since 1949, and moved to TV Zagreb in 1957 where she became the first sports editor. She served in that position, barring one four-year interruption, until 1975. She was a multiple-time president of the sport journalist section of the Croatian Journalist Association, served as a member of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee in two mandates, and was a one-time member of the Executive Council of the Assembly of the City of Zagreb.[2]
Babović was decorated with awards from the Journalist Association in 1974, the City of Zagreb in 1977, and the Yugoslav Order of Brotherhood and Unity with a silver wreath in 1979.[2] She died on 26 December 2020, from the effects of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b Milena Babovic. trackfield.brinkster.net
- ^ a b c d e Frntić, Franjo (1983), "Babović, Milka", Croatian Biographical Lexicon (in Croatian), vol. 1, Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, retrieved 6 January 2014
- ^ Körbler, Jurica (13 November 2019). "MILKA BABOVIĆ, LEGENDA HRVATSKOG NOVINARSTVA: "Prije par dana na mene je naletio auto. Pala sam, ali sam ujedno i strogo zavikala. Ipak sam ja stara sportašica, znam kako se pada"". Glas Istre (in Croatian). Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ "Umrla Milka Babović: Otišla je velika sportašica i doajenka našeg sportskog novinarstva". Jutarnji list. 26 December 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
External links
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