Serbian Armed Forces helps Serbian Paralympic athletes
Two years ago, when the thirteen-member team of Serbian paralympians, led by Vlastimir Golubovic, selector and coach of the Paralympics Track and Field National Team, returned from the London Paralympic Games decorated with five medals, two gold and three silver ones, and several new world records, Serbia excelled in the discipline in which there were no significant results recorded since the time of former Yugoslavia.The successes of athletes Zeljko Dimitrijevic and Drazenko Mitrovic brought honour to the domestic sports in general, but the conditions in which these brave athletes set meet records are far from those in which their professional colleagues train. The ground near the Home for Adult Persons with Disabilities in Zemun, which was made for the paralympians by Dimitrijevic, who is the resident of the home at the same time, and the assistance of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Military Academy, on whose training grounds they recorded the results which took us to London, are the beginnings of an upward trajectory of our Paralympic athletes, and cooperation with the Armed Forces today has already been a tradition.
- It is not just about the opportunity to practice on the grounds of the Military Academy, which are more suitable for some disciplines than that next to the Home. Since 2009, we broadened our friendship with the Armed Forces through the help and companionship during the "Olympic Days", an event traditionally organized every June since 1998, when our Home was founded. It was then that we sent the request to the Serbian Armed Forces to assist us in organizing the event and lend us a tent that is necessary when opening and closing the "Olympic Days”. Members of the 224th Electronic Warfare Centre came to help, and since then, our contact is continuous – Zeljko Dimitrijevic recalls, noting that cooperation evolved over time from the obligation to pleasure.- When they parked for the first time in front of the Home five years ago, as they later told, they expected anything but what they found. Friendly welcome, with a smile, positive energy and a strong will that convinced them that the impossible is possible. Since then, every year, they are competing to come and take part in the "Olympic Days", because there were equally represented persons with disabilities and healthy persons in almost all the disciplines in which we have competed here for two weeks. Therefore it is always our pleasure when we welcome our friends from the Armed Forces and make them take out of here the best memories – Dimitrijevic says.
Members of the 224th Electronic Warfare Centre participate not only in donating and setting up tents, but also in cooking stew, and other sporting and recreational competitions, and according to Utjeha Scekic, a social worker of the Home, the most important result of this cooperation is the friendly relationship.
Vlastimir Golubovic shares the same impression, primarily emphasizing, as a coach of the Paralympics Track and Field National Team, the importance of support of the Military Academy in the training process.
- Thanks to the great people of the Military Academy, and of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in general, our great dream came true. We once again took pride in our sports ranks, and achieved that 80,000 people who followed the London Paralympic Games hailed every day our athletes who justified and exceeded all expectations. All this would not have been possible without the help of the Military Academy management and athletes, who have donated their facilities and personnel for us to make the first big score, and then continue to gain successes in other competitions – Golubovic said.Although he handed over the baton to the younger ones, and has high hopes for the world record winner in the discipline of throwing discus, javelin and shot put, Drazenko Mitrovic, but also young Milos Mitic, a future Olympian, Zeljko Dimitrijevic does not forget the maxim of success – blood, tears and sweat.
- When the success is made, then we all forget how hard it was to come to it, and no one sees what we are all going through. I am practicing several times, when we worked out at the gym I literally fainted from the weight and effort. Throwing cones seems like a simple task. However, one should bear in mind that we do not have movements in fingers, but we hold the cone between the fingers, using adhesive which is used also by handball players for fixing it. However, at some temperatures, the adhesive gets other property and tears the skin off your fingers. In such circumstances, you cannot afford to wait for the wounds to heal, but you continue to practice with open wounds. This is painful sport, but the moment when you know what you have achieved and that you proved yourself, but also to others, that everything can be achieved by willpower, fighting with a lot of positive energy, is greater than any pain and trauma of life. Conveying that message is our mission in daily contact with the people, and we are especially glad that it was so well accepted by our friends from the Armed Forces - Zeljko Dimitrijevic concludes, whose 26.88 meters will be a meet record for a long time.
This year, in front of the Home for Adult Persons with Disabilities in Zemun, on 6th June, a two-week event "Olympic Days" begins, in which once again the members of the 224th Electronic Warfare Centre of the Serbian Armed Forces will take part.
