 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Milena Babović |
| Born | (1928-10-27)27 October 1928 Skopje, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes |
| Died | 26 December 2020(2020-12-26) (aged 92) Zagreb, Croatia |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | Sprint, hurdles |
| Club | Mladost Zagreb |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best | 80 mH – 11.0 (1957) |
Milena "Milka" Babović (27 October 1928 – 26 December 2020) was a Croatian sprint and hurdles runner and journalist.
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
Babović 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. 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. 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.
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.
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. She died on 26 December 2020, from the effects of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia.
References
- ^ Milena Babovic. trackfield.brinkster.net
- ^ 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
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byMarija Radosavljević Eša Ligorio |
Yugoslav Sportswoman of the Year 1953 1955 |
Succeeded byEša Ligorio Vinka Jeričević |
- 1928 births
- 2020 deaths
- Sportspeople from Skopje
- Sportspeople from Sarajevo
- Croatian female sprinters
- Journalists from Zagreb
- Croatian female hurdlers
- Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia
- Croatian people of Montenegrin descent
- Croatian people of German descent
- Danube-Swabian people
- University of Zagreb alumni
- Yugoslavian Athletics Championships winners