Angelina Topic
Where parents stopped, she continued because blood is thicker than water! Champion genes, sports milieu she was born in, athletic fields of play where she made first steps of life made “the queen of sport” be her life choice and feel delight of the champions’ podium. Triple junior champion of Serbia being 16 and reaching189cm in high jump, Angelina Topic is on a leading position on the world rank list in her age group and is one of the biggest young hopes of Serbian and world athletics.
The sweetest moments of big sports champions are just the ones when their heirs not only follow their footsteps but also outdo famous parents on that professional path of theirs. The task not easy at all burdens, weighs and pressures many children but not the heir of Dragutin and Biljana Topic. The Father won the European Championships in Split and Stockholm in 1990 and 1996, gold medal at the World Junior in Plovdiv in 1990, and at Universiade in 1995; he is one of the best Serbian athletes of all times, since 1993 he is the national record holder in high jump with the result of 2.38m reached five times what makes him share the 15th place on the rank list of the best high jumpers of all times; he was the fourth at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, her mother is the state record holder in triple jump and together they made it possible for Serbia to have an athletics jewel yet to be talked and written about, whose “sky jump” we all will be waiting and together with her believe in the Olympics gold.
She has chosen to fly in her own direction, to move boundaries with ease, write her own story that resembles her father’s so much, and is still just hers and unique.
What are your expectations in this season?
”First of all, I would like to, considering how much I think I am ready, taking into account all the efforts and time invested in previous months, defend achieved results and try some new heights. Until the end of the year I would like to achieve my childhood dream of the bar staying at 190cm” – brilliant Angelina Topic starts her story smiling.
Serbia will have a chance to watch a young pearl of the world and home athletics in the high jump discipline at the Meeting which will be held in Belgrade’s Arena on 7 March 2022, which will gather the cream of the world athletics and be a control competition just before the World Championships in our capital starts.
“I am really looking forward to the competition on 7 March in the Arena. To be together with all the world aces at the same field of play is something that inspires, motivates, creates positive stage fright. I will go out and fight for the maximum outcome as always and I hope that my result will make all of us proud, that is my task and I will work making what I cut out true” – 16-year-old Serbian Champion, Angelina, emphasises.
Are your parents your inspiration and guiding light in the profession you chose, and how much have you learned from them?
” Of course, I am more than grateful for having them first of all as irreplaceable support in everything I do. I am glad that I have on my side someone who can share their experience with me and makes some unavoidable obstacles which I come across in the sports world easier for me. It is because of them that I fell in love with what I do even before I joined them myself.”
What are the crucial pieces of advice you have got so far?
”That anything I do has sense only if that is something I love.”
Do you think that you can surpass success of your parents?
”I do not see competitors in them; I do not like comparing my successes with my parents’ ones; they have written their stories themselves, and I am living mine now.”
How hard and at the same time beautiful is the calling you have chosen in your life (doing athletics)?
”In athletics we constantly fight with ourselves and in order to make progress we need to leave our comfort zones. I think that no matter what hardships and barriers are in front of us, what is behind them is worth every anguish that meets us. I, as many others, have found myself in this sport and I cannot picture myself in anything else. I have lived the most beautiful moments of my life thanks to athletics; I have met my dearest people doing this, and day by day I am more and more certain that I have chosen the right path.”
How many hours a day do you train?
”When there is the preparation period, I train once a day, mostly for an hour and a half, five to six times a week.”
“Are you proud of the fact that Serbia is the host of the planetary World Indoor Championships?
”I am glad for the fact that one of the biggest world events will be held in our country. We have a chance to get to know athletics stars from the whole planet better and to give them support from our tribunes.”
And, for the end, is your dream the performance at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024?
”I have problems accepting the fact that Paris has approached us so close. As time passes, I more and more have a feeling that they do not have to be just a dream, but who knows, a lot of things change in two years, we will see” – Topic concluded.
