Goran Vesic, Ivana Vuleta, Veselin Jevrosimovic, Mondo Duplantis and Chris Turner at the exhibition opening (© Martina Pavlovic / WIC Belgrade 22)
World indoor long jump champion Ivana Vuleta (Spanovic) and Olympic pole vault gold medallist Mondo Duplantis were the guests of honour at the opening of the MOWA Indoor Athletics Heritage Exhibition Belgrade 22 on Saturday (5).
The two champions were joined by the Deputy Mayor of the City of Belgrade Goran Vesic and Athletics Federation of Serbia President Veselin Jevrosimovic.
This latest Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) exhibition is located in the Stark Arena. The venue will host the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 from 18-20 March.
Following welcoming addresses delivered to the 80 guests and media in attendance, the four principals cut the official ribbon and drew back the curtains to reveal historic exhibits which celebrate the history of international indoor athletics and Serbian athletics.
Mondo Duplantis and Ivana Vuleta cut the ribbon of the MOWA Indoor Athletics Heritage Exhibition in Belgrade (© Martina Pavlovic / WIC Belgrade 22)
Vuleta donates spikes and singlet
It was therefore appropriate that Vuleta, the most decorated athlete in her country’s track & field history, took the occasion to generously donate to the World Athletics Heritage Collection a pair of spikes from her highly successful 2016 and 2017 seasons.
During those two years, Vuleta – competing under her maiden name of Spanovic – won Olympic bronze in Rio, world indoor silver in Portland and European outdoor and indoor gold, respectively in Amsterdam and Belgrade.
Vuleta also kindly gifted to the collection one of her unworn Serbian Olympic team singlets from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Her autographed spikes and singlet will soon be added in glorious 360-degree 3D to the online virtual MOWA platform. In the meantime, they are on show in the Stark Arena.
Duplantis among a host of global champions and record-breakers
The current world record (6.18m) spikes of Duplantis, which he donated to the World Athletics Heritage Collection last year, are already on display in MOWA and are being exhibited in Belgrade.
Mondo Duplantis with his world record spikes (© Martina Pavlovic / WIC Belgrade 22)
The high-flying Swede’s shoes sit alongside competition artefacts from 25 other world indoor medallists and world indoor record-breakers. These exhibits include items from the careers of Ron Delany, Eamonn Coghlan, Sergey Bubka, Stacy Dragila, Haile Gebrselassie, Hicham El Guerrouj, Gail Devers, Maria Mutola, Jason Gardener, Sally Pearson, Ryan Whiting, Tom Walsh, Ashton Eaton, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, Gudaf Tsegay and more.
The MOWA Indoor Athletics Heritage Exhibition Belgrade 22 is open to those with tickets or accreditations attending either the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting on Monday (7) or the World Athletics Indoor Championships in a fortnight’s time.
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage
