Vinko Pokrajčić

Vinko Pokrajčić
Personal information
Nationality	Yugoslav ; Croatian
Born	July 14, 1958; Mrkodol, Tomislavgrad, Yugoslavia
Sport
Sport	Track
Event(s)	1500 meters, mile
Club	AK Sarajevo
Coached by	Lazar Ćirović
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	5th junior (1977)[1]
Personal best(s)	1500m: 3:39.83[2] ; Mile: 3:58.41[2]
Representing Yugoslavia
Men's athletics
Universiade

Vinko Pokrajčić (born 14 July 1958) is a Bosnian retired middle-distance runner who competed internationally for Yugoslavia. He was the runner-up in the men's 1500 meters at the 1981 Summer Universiade.

Early life

Pokrajčić was one of seven children in his family.[1] He dropped out of school in eighth grade, intending to move to Germany as a guest worker.[1] However, after a time trial with coach Leo Lang, his family introduced him to coach Lazar Ćirović of AK Sarajevo. Pokrajčić's first race was Yugoslavia's state 3000 meters for the "young juniors" age group. Before the race, Ćirović told him, "son, you run with them as long as you can, when you can't, just stop."[1] With only 300 meters to go, Ćirović told him "go now if you can", and Pokrajčić won the race.[1] He subsequently joined AK Sarajevo, and lived in Sarajevo until the Bosnian War began.[1]

Running career

In 1977, he was called up to Yugoslavia's national junior cross country team for a race in Shumen, Bulgaria. He won the race even though someone stepped on one of his racing spikes early in the race, causing him to run the rest of the race missing one shoe.[1] Two years later, he ran the men's 1500 meters at the 1979 European Indoor Championships, finishing second to last in his heat in a time of 3:48.2.[3]

At the 1981 Summer Universiade, he ran a personal best of 3:39.83 in the men's 1500 meters, finishing second overall behind Saïd Aouita. He was only the third person from Yugoslavia to have ever run under 3:40 in the 1500 meters, after Boško Božinović and Dragan Zdravković.[1]

gollark: You haven't heard of Karl Gruen?

gollark: This would only be better if workers would be allowed to decide between themselves to work, and by means of political means they would have a higher power. The chief representative and classical type of this tendency is Mr Karl Gruen. In particular, it may be seen that at work it is not possible to produce more workers and more people, if this is the case. Bourgeois Socialism attains adequate expression when, and only when, it becomes a mere figureof speech. It is an attitude which allows the individual to express his own mind without any kind of form of communication, but can be regarded as a mere expression of the mind.

gollark: If I post a large wall of text, it is *generally* copied off the internet.

gollark: Heav.

gollark: In some sense.

References

Ersan Bijedić (September 17, 2018). "VINKO POKRAJČIĆ: Sramota je da moji rekordi nisu oboreni skoro 40 godina" (in Bosnian). Retrieved October 20, 2018.
IAAF. "Vinko POKRAJČIĆ - Athlete Profile".
"Vorläufe - 1500 Meter - Männer" (in German). February 24, 1979.

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[Trcanje-1] Ersan Bijedić (September 17, 2018). "VINKO POKRAJČIĆ: Sramota je da moji rekordi nisu oboreni skoro 40 godina" (in Bosnian). Retrieved October 20, 2018.

[IAAF-2] IAAF. "Vinko POKRAJČIĆ - Athlete Profile".

[Maik-3] "Vorläufe - 1500 Meter - Männer" (in German). February 24, 1979.