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Dragutin Topic gets bronze medal
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| Dragutin Topic |
Ghent, Belgium, February 27th - The Yugoslav champion in the high jump, Dragutin Topic, won a bronze medal in the 26th European Indoor Athletic Championship, which was held in the Belgian town of Ghent, by jumping the 2.34m. The European champion, a Russian V. Voronin, and the second-placed German, Martin Buss jumped the same height, but they had fewer attempts than the Yugoslav athlete did.
There was an actual drama going on in the heights, which determined the assigning of medals. After the failed attempt on the height of 2.30m, Topic was placed fourth, so he decided to go for all or nothing and in the remaining two attempts he moved to the height of 2.32m. In his first attempt on this height, the Yugoslav contestant failed, but he filed a complaint because, during his running start, he was interrupted by a reporter. Luckily, the organizers accepted Topic's complaint and, in the repeated jump, he succeeded in jumping the 2.32m.
The Russian, Voronin, jumped the height of 2.34m in his first jump, and the German, Buss, and Topic were successful in their second attempt. It turned out that this height was sufficient for a medal. All three contestants tried to jump the height of 2.36m, but all failed.
After the golden 1996 and the bronze 1992, this is the third medal for Dragutin Topic in the European indoor athletic championships, and the 23rd medal the Yugoslav athletes won in the indoor European championships.
Among those Yugoslavs, a significant performance in the European Championship was given by Danijal Jahic, who was placed eighth in the finals of the long jump contest, by jumping 7.72m.
High Jump MEN - Final
| |
Name |
Best Result |
2.15 |
2.20 |
2.24 |
2.27 |
2.30 |
2.32 |
2.34 |
2.36 |
| 1. |
V. Voronin (RUS) |
2.34 |
- |
- |
o |
- |
o |
- |
o |
xxx |
| 2. |
M. Buss (GER) |
2.34 (PB) |
- |
o |
- |
o |
o |
o |
xo |
xxx |
| 3. |
D. Topic (YUG) |
2.34 (SB) |
- |
o |
- |
o |
x- |
o |
xo |
xxx |
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