Željko Jerkov

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Željko Jerkov (born November 6, 1953 in Pula , Yugoslavia ) is a former Yugoslav basketball player who was world champion in 1978, Olympic champion in 1980 and three times European champion.

Athletic career

The 2.08 m tall Željko Jerkov played at KK Split until 1982 , with this club he was Yugoslav champion in 1977. At the end of his career he moved to Italy and played one season each with Victoria Libertas Pesaro and Pallacanestro Treviso .

With the Yugoslav national team , he won the title at the European Championship in 1973 by beating the Spaniards in the final . In six games, Jerkov scored 24 points. In 1974 there was a group system at the World Cup in San Juan , six teams from the preliminary round as well as host Puerto Rico and defending champion Yugoslavia were set for the final round. In the end, the Soviet Union , the Yugoslavs, and the United States were each defeated. Since the victory of the Soviet team over the team from the USA was the highest victory of the games among themselves, the Soviet Union won the title before the Yugoslavs and the United States. The 1975 European basketball championship took place in Yugoslavia. There was a final round with six teams, in which the Yugoslavs achieved five victories and thus became European champions before the Soviet Union. Jerkov appeared in eight games and scored 55 points.

In 1976 at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, the Yugoslavs were second in the preliminary round behind the team from the United States. After the semi-final victory of the Yugoslavs over the team from the Soviet Union, the Yugoslavs met again in the final against the United States and lost 74:95. Željko Jerkov was used in six games and scored 33 points. At the European Championships in Belgium in 1977 there was another knockout round, in the final the Yugoslavs won against the Soviet team. With 62 points in seven games Željko Jerkov reached his best point average, in the final he contributed 12 points.

At the World Basketball Championship in Manila in 1978 there was initially a final round in which the Yugoslavs remained undefeated. The first two teams of the final round met in the final, Yugoslavia won against the USSR team with 82:81 after extra time. After three European championship titles in a row, Yugoslavia missed the final at the 1979 European championship in Italy. Since they had lost in the preliminary round against Israel 76:77, Israel moved into the final against the Soviet team, Yugoslavia won the game for third place 99:92 against Czechoslovakia . Jerkov scored 54 points in seven games. A year later there was another final round at the 1980 Olympic Games . In the final, the two best teams from the final round met each other. The Yugoslavs defeated the Italians with 86:77 points. Jerkov was used in eight games and scored 65 points over the course of the tournament. In the final he contributed 16 points. At the end of his career, Jerkov reached the game for third place at the 1982 World Cup in Colombia, which the Yugoslavs won 119-117 against the Spaniards.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Medal winner at the European basketball championships at sport-komplett.de
  2. ↑ Player statistics of the European Championship 1973 at archive.fiba.com
  3. ↑ Medal winner at basketball world championships at sport-komplett.de
  4. ↑ Player statistics of the EM 1975 at archive.fiba.com
  5. ↑ Volker Kluge : Olympic Summer Games. The Chronicle III. Mexico City 1968 - Los Angeles 1984. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-328-00741-5 . Pp. 579 to 581
  6. ↑ The player stats come from SportsReference.com.
  7. ↑ Player statistics of the EM 1977 at archive.fiba.com
  8. ↑ Player statistics of the European Championship 1979 at archive.fiba.com
  9. ↑ While player statistics for the European championships are available at archive.fiba.com, these are missing from Jerkov for world championships.
personal data
SURNAME Jerkov, Željko
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Yugoslav basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH November 6, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Pula , Yugoslavia