It would have been difficult to imagine a more ideal afternoon. Sunny September, a perfect setting for a Zagreb Meeting featuring maybe the most stars in its 58-year long history. Seven Olympic Champions, 22 Olympic medallists, one couldn’t have imagined a better invitation to an athletics event in Croatia. Having Hanzek (as the Zagreb Grand Prix is called locally) later than usually because of Beijing paid off. Both because those stars came and because the stands were packed (in my estimation there were about 6000 spectators). We witnessed a great duel in the women’s high jump, which Blanka Vlasic won over Anna Chicherova. Blanka’s coach Bojan Marinovic had been predicting a splendid evening of the Russian high jumper for a long time, and it happened in Zagreb. First, Chicherova cleared 202 cm when she and Blanka were the only ones left in the competition. This was the new meeting record; Blanka and Bergqvist had held the old one with 201. But Blanka had promised a new meeting record and fulfilled this promise only a few minutes later. Then the bar was raised to 204 and Chicherova went for the meeting record again, but also for her personal best. However, Blanka had promised a record, and only a few moments later, she flew over 204. The bar went up to 206, but none of them managed to go clear so a jump-off had to be conducted for place 1. After a few failed attempts while lowering the bar 2 by 2 centimetres, Chicherova quit the competition. Blanka kept on jumping, failing at 202, 200 and 198, although the referees shouldn’t have let her jump, as Chicherova had retired anyway. Still, the evening ended up nicely for the Croatian Champion, as always before.

“I am terribly, terribly tired. I have never had 19 jumps before in my life.”
She couldn’t even answer questions, she asked to leave. Eventually, she did conclude: “I am glad I have won. I would have jumped on as long as necessary to win. I didn’t like the possibility of sharing the first place. There is always only one winner in sports. I need to rest now, I have four days; but I have never jumped so well so late in the season.”

It might have been better if the men’s hammer throw had opened the Meeting in the early afternoon, because Croatia’s Ivana Brkljacic was among the women hammer throwers, wanting to make up for the bad result from Beijing. But, it wasn’t very important, as she wasn’t inspired for great achievements as her field. She tried, but again it took her long to warm up for the right throw, which also didn’t go over 70. The season is over. Yipsi Moreno had one but excellent throw of 76.62 metres, which was both the American and meeting record. At the end of season! Betty Heidler finished second with six rounds of over 70 metres. At the end of season! These are great athletes.

Three-time Olympic Champion Veronica Campbell-Brown showed why she had been announced as the greatest star of the Meeting. She came back to the 100m, the event she hadn’t run in Beijing, and won with 11.10, a modest result for her, besting season’s best Torri Edwards (10.78), who hadn’t recovered from the disappointment in Beijing (eighth place). She finished only fourth in Zagreb.

Beijing gold medallist Nesta Carter, member of Jamaica’s Olympic record holding 4x100m relay team won effortlessly in the men’s 100m with 10.22. He didn’t flail his arms like Bolt or Powell, but he convincingly bolted to the finish line, not disappointing the audience.

The women’s 100m hurdles field was almost like in Beijing; six out of eight finalists were here, all medallists, who finished just like in China: Harper won gold, McLellan silver and Lopes-Schliep bronze. As expected, the results were a bit slower, but still excellent: between 12.65 and 12.85.

Beautiful Olympic bronze medallist Tasha Danvers won in the 400m hurdles with a good result of 54.66. In the women’s 200m, Olympic gold medallist from the Russian 4x100m relay team Chermoshanskaya was bested by the American sprinter Carmelita Jeter, who had the best personal best in the 200m among the entered athletes. Stephen Buckland won in the men’s 200m with 20.57.

The women’s discus throw was also like a rerun of the Olympic final from Beijing: all medallists were here, as were half of the finalists, but the outcome was a bit different. Olympic silver medallist Yarelis Barrios of Cuba set a new meeting record with 64.98, besting the Olympic Champion Stephanie Brown-Trafton. Svetlana Kljuka ran the season’s best in the 1000m with 2:38.02.

Hungary’s Krizstian Pars broke another meeting record in the last event of the evening, throwing the hammer over 80 metres, more precisely 80.04. Olympic Champion Primoz Kozmus finished second with 79.07 and Marco Lingua was third with 77.81.

An evening, which will not be repeated so easily. Five Olympic Champions showed why they were so special. Our Blanka was among them, although it is more and more difficult at the end of season. Hang in there, Blanka, there is only Stuttgart left...

Croatian Olympians Vanja Perisic and Nikolina Horvat, who gathered experience in Beijing and showed that they did not end up at the Olympics by accident, will participate in this year's Zagreb Grand Prix. As the young Croatian runners don't have much opportunity to compete against such strong opponents, the Meeting is another opportunity to gather experience. They will certainly have enough great athletes to learn from. Perisic will compete in the 1,000m, in which Olympic finalists Russia's Svetlana Klyuka (placed 4th in the 800m) and Natalia Yevdokimova (fourth in the 1,500m) will try to go under 2:40, or at least around the season's best result of 2:37.72 or the meeting record of 2:36.33. To achieve the expected result level, their pacemaker will be a third Russian athlete, Tatjana Andrianova, who finished 8th in the 800m in Beijing.

In the 400m hurdles, Nikolina Horvat will race against four finalists from Beijing. The Olympic bronze medallist Tasha Danvers (Great Britain) confirmed her arrival, as did Ekaterina Bikert (Russia), Anastasia Rabchenyuk (Ukraine) and Tiffany Williams (USA). As Danvers, Rabchenyuk and Williams ran under 54 seconds this year, one can assume that they will challenge the meeting record of 54.14.

The 110m hurdles, the Boris Hanzekovic Memorial Race, is a trademark of the Zagreb IAAF Grand Prix. Harald Edletzberger, Meeting Manager, confirmed that fans will be able to enjoy it as usual, just like the women's 100m hurdles. Cuba's Dayron Robles, who broke the world record in the 110m hurdles (12.87) in Ostrawa at the beginning of June, and who ran under 13 seconds six times this summer, is coming to Zagreb for the third time in a row. With Robles at the track, who is expected to be pushed by Maurice Wignall, the meeting record of 12.98, set by Mark Crear in 1999, will definitely be challenged.

We shall also se a good race in the women's 100m hurdles. A strong line-up will be led by Dawn Harper of the USA and Canada's Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. Competition will be fierce, as Edletzberger is bringing three more finalists from Beijing; Harper and Lopes-Schliep will be challenged by Damu Cherry, Deloreen Ennis-London and Sarah Claxton.

After returning from the Beijing Olympics, where she didn't make the hammer throw final, Ivana Brkljacic is waiting for the 2008 Zagreb Grand Prix, „her favourite meeting“, in Budapest. „It is my obligation to throw well, to give my best performance before home audience. And, of course, to make up for the disaster in Beijing“, Ivana Brkljacic said.

She will have an opportunity to do so, as Harald Edletzberger, Manager of the Zagreb Grand Prix, secured the participation of the Olympic Champion Aksana Miankova of Belarus. The women's hammer throw has always been one of the strongest events at Zagreb: Yipsi Moreno, Kamila Skolimowska, Tatiana Lysenko and Manuela Montebrun have competed here.
Miankova, a 26-year old athlete, who stopped Yipsi Moreno on her way to Olympic gold in Beijing and set a new Olympic record of 76.34 metres, will join this impressive list after 9 September 2008. Miankova can do even better; she won with the result of 77.32 in Minsk, which was the Belarus record, the best result this year and only half a meter shorter then Tatiana Lysenko's world record of 77.80.

Edletzberger started fulfilling his promise to bring five Olympic Champions to Zagreb: besides Miankova, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Primoz Kozmus, he also secured the participation of US discus thrower Stephanie Brown-Trafton, who won with 64.74 m in Beijing.

During the Beijing Olympics, Harald Edletzberger negotiated the participation of athletes in the Zagreb Meeting. The first great names are Olympic Champions Primoz Kozmus (hammer throw) and Veronica Campbell-Brown, who will run 100 metres in Zagreb. Edletzberger doesn't want to speak about others yet, not even after the meeting with the Organizers, at which he signed his contract and officially confirmed his status as the Zagreb IAAF Grand Prix Meeting Manager.
„Many athletes went home after Beijing, it remains to see who will come to Europe after the Olympic Games“, Edletzberger said.
Although the date of the Meeting is not ideal, the Manager is optimistic on the eve of his last negotiations with athletes at the Golden League in Zurich.
„I expect five Olympic Champions to come to Zagreb.“
Blanka Vlasic is not one of them, but even with the silver medal from Beijing, she will be the greatest star of the Meeting.
Besides signing the contract and meeting with the Meeting Director Velimir Basic, Edletzberger used his visit to Zagreb to inspect the Mladost Stadium.
„All IAAF requirements have been met“, Edletzberger concluded.
Besides the Meeting Director and Manager, Assistant Director Drazen Kroupa, Executive Director Zeljko Grabusic and Ante Milic, Drago Luka Ostojic and Zoran Kovacevic also attended the meeting at the Zagreb Sports Association.
Preparation works for 9 September are in full swing. The Antunovic Hotel has been confirmed as the official hotel and participants will also be accommodated at Hotels Westin and Laguna. The Zagreb Holding will provide official transport and logistics support.

ZAGREB - It has started. While Harald Edletzberger, Manager of the 2008 Zagreb Grand Prix, is in Beijing, negotiating the participation of athletes in Zagreb, Velimir Basic, Meeting Director, his assistant Drazen Kroupa and members of the Organizing Committee Zoran Kovacevic, Milan Oreskovic (Secretary General of the Croatian Athletics Federation), Franjo Kordic (Secretary General of the Zagreb Athletics Association), Vladimir Mikulec (member of the Executive Committee of the Croatian Athletics Federation) and Josip Baricic (President of the Zagreb Athletics Referees Association) held a press conference at the Antunovic Hotel in Zagreb.

Director Basic presented the good news regarding the upcoming 58th Zagreb Grand Prix, locally called „Hanzek“, ranked 11th among the elite IAAF meetings, which will take place at the Mladost Stadium in Zagreb on 9 September 2008. The 2008 Zagreb Grand Prix will be held under the auspices of the Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandic and it will be organized by the Zagreb Sports Association.

„Before all, I must thank Drazen Kroupa, who was the Meeting Director for five years. The Zagreb Grand Prix is among the elite meetings thanks to his resourcefulness“ Basic said. „We expect to have at least two Olympic Champions at this year's meeting.“ One has already been confirmed; in Beijing, Harald Edletzberger negotiated the participation of Primoz Kozmus, Olympic Champion in the men's hammer throw. This means that this will be the first time that, besides the women's, there will also be the men's hammer throw at Zagreb.

„It will be a little problem because it is not easy to organize competitions with both the men's and women's hammer throw. They need to throw before or after other events for the safety of other competitors. I believe that we shall solve everything to the satisfaction of the audience, but also of the throwers. Women should compete at 16:30 and men at the end of the program“ Vladimir Mikulec explained.

On Tuesday, 9 September, the competition at the Mladost Sports Park will start with the men's javelin throw, which will be a national event, at 15:00. It will continue with the women's hammer throw at 16:00 and the Opening Ceremony will take place at 17:45. It will be broadcast live on Croatian Television.

The program will include a total of 19 events:
Men: 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 1,500 m, 3,000 m, 110 m hurdles, long jump, shot put, javelin throw, hammer throw;
Women: 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 1,000 m, 100 m hurdles, 400 m hurdles, high jump, discus throw, hammer throw.

Besides Kozmus, the participation of Blanka Vlasic, the undoubtedly brightest star of the Meeting, is certain. There will be all Croatian Olympians (Ivana Brkljacic, Sanja Gavrilovic, Vera Begic, Vanja Perisic, Nikolina Horvat, Andras Haklits, Martin Maric, Nedzad Mulabegovic and Jurica Grabusic) and Director Basic expects:
„At least two Olympic Champions and further five Olympic medallists from Beijing. In each event, we expect four athletes who are in the world's top 30 and four who are among the top 50.“

It sounds impressive, no doubt there will be an athletics spectacle in Zagreb on 9 September.
The organizers have also secured a special prize of 30,000 Euros for a world record.

Good-Natured Giant Primoz Kozmus

Besides Blanka Vlasic, who is a trademark of the Zagreb Grand Prix, the first great star, who has confirmed his participation at Zagreb, is Slovenia's hammer thrower Primoz Kozmus. After winning the Olympic gold medal in Beijing, Kozmus deserved to have the men's hammer throw included in the program of the 2008 Zagreb Grand Prix because of him.

The participation of Primoz Kozmus will intensify the interest in the Zagreb Grand Prix, locally called Hanzek, among Croatia's neighbours. Zagreb is close to the Slovenian border, the closest place, in which they will be able to see their Olympic Champion in action“, said Meeting Director Velimir Basic.

This gentle, good-natured giant from Slovenia (188 cm, 106 kg) was born in Novo Mesto on 30 September 1979. The past two years have been the most beautiful time of his career. Although he has been among the world's elite in the hammer throw for five years, since he made the final and placed 5th at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, Kozmus waited for his first major medal until 2007. He won silver at the World Championships in Osaka, only Ivan Tikhon of Belarus was better than him. But, Kozmus made up for everything in Beijing, he bested Tikhon, Vadim Devyatovskiy, Krisztian Pars and Koji Murofushi.

His personal best is 82.30 m, the result he achieved in Bydgoszcz in 2007, and he won the Olympic gold medal with the result of 82.02. This was at the level of the best results in his career, which only the best athletes, who don't succumb to pressure, can do at major competitions.

Before his World silver from Japan and Olympic gold, between Paris and Osaka, Primoz Kozmus participated in three more major finals: he finished 6th at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 and 7th at the European Championships in Gothenburg In 2007.

Veronica Campbell-Brown Comes to Zagreb

Harald Edletzberger, Manager of the Zagreb Grand Prix, called from Beijing with a great piece of news. After Primoz Kozmus confirmed his participation, another Olympic Champion agreed to compete in Zagreb, as well: one of the fastest women in the world, Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica.

Campbell-Brown defended her Olympic title in the women’s 200m in Beijing. Besides those two gold medals, she has three more Olympic medals. She won on the Jamaican team in the women’s 4x100m in Athens in 2004. She also won the bronze medal in the women’s 100m there, and she had won the silver medal in the relay race in Sydney in 2000.

Veronica Campbell-Brown also had much success at World Championships: she won one gold medal (in the 100m) and two silver medals (200m, 4x100m) in Osaka in 2007 and two silver medals (200m, 4x100m) in Helsinki in 2005.

Born in Trelawny on 15 May 1982, Campbell-Brown has developed into one of the greatest sprinters Jamaica has ever had, a true successor of the great Merlene Ottey. She gave a glimpse of what was to become a great career at the World Youth Championships in Bydgoszcz in 1999, where she became the first and so far the only one to win in the 100m and 200m. She still hasn’t won both sprint medals at one competition in the women’s category, but there are still many years of top level athletics in front of Veronica Campbell-Brown, so there will be time for that, as well.

A modest girl from a large family (she has nine siblings) married Jamaican sprinter Omar Brown, her colleague from the University of Arkansas, in 2007.

Veronica Campbell-Brown’s personal best in the 100m is 10.85. In Beijing, she ran 21.74 in the 200m, which is the 7th best result of all times.