Tatjana Jelača

Early career

As a member of Sirmijum Athletics Club,^[2] Jelača won the gold medal at the 2007 European Youth Olympic Festival, throwing the javelin 51.80 metres to set a senior Serbian national record in the event.^[3]

In July 2008, Jelača won a bronze medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Her result of 58.77 metres set another new senior national record in the process.^[4] She also competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where she failed to record a valid distance and did not reach the final round.^[5]

In July 2009, Jelača set another new senior national record in the javelin with a throw of 60.35 metres to take the gold medal at the 2009 European Junior Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia.^[6] At the end of the year, she received the Sport award for the best Serbian young athlete in 2009.^[7]

Senior career

At the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona, Jelača reached the final with a throw in qualifying of 56.89 metres, which was 9th best overall.^[8] In the final itself, her best mark was 52.13 metres, which gave her 12th place.^[9]

At the 2012 European Championships in Helsinki she won a 7th place after setting her season's best effort of 57.58 metres.^[10] In August of that year she competed in London at the 2012 Olympic Games, although her performance in the qualifying round was insufficient to advance to the final.^[11]

In the June 2013 Mediterranean Games, Jelača threw the javelin 57.88 metres and took a silver medal at the event behind Martina Ratej of Slovenia.^[12] Jelača made a breakthrough in her senior career in qualifications of the 2013 World Championship two months later, when she threw a new national record of 62.68 metres. She came 9th in the final with a best effort of 60.81 metres.^[13]

She won her first senior medal, silver at the 2014 European Championship with a huge personal best which also set a new national record of 64.21 metres.^[14]