Vera Nikolić

Vera Nikolić (Serbian Cyrillic: Вера Николић; born September 23, 1948 in Grabovica near Despotovac, Yugoslavia) is a former Serbian track and field athlete, who competed for Yugoslavia in the women's 800 metres. She won the European title in that event at the 1966 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary at the age of 17 years and 346 days, making her the youngest ever European champion.

In 1964, at the age of sixteen, Nikolić became Yugoslav Junior Cross-country Champion and Balkan Junior Cross-country Champion. That summer she set the first national junior record with 57.3 in the 400m, followed by another record in her event – 2:14.4 in the 800m. In Budapest in 1966, albeit still a junior, she became European champion in the 800m with 2:02.8, thus setting a new national record and the season’s world best. She confirmed this title two weeks later triumphing at the European Junior Championship.

Nikolić' greatest achievement was at the Crystal Palace in London on July 20, 1968, when she ran for the first time on tartan and beat the world running elite setting a world record of 2:00.5. At the 1969 European Championships she won a bronze. She triumphed once again in 1971, clocking 2:00.0.

Her best Olympic ranking was the fifth place in Münich in 1972 with a personal best 1:59.6. She was unbeaten for eight years on home track, before exchanging her athlete’s career for coaching.

References

* [http://www.bgdmarathon.org/mare0004.htm Profile]