Marija Šestak

Marija Šestak
Marija Šestak 2007
nation	Slovenia Serbia and Montenegro Yugoslavia
birthday	17th April 1979 (age 41)
place of birth	Kragujevac , Yugoslavia
size	173 cm
Weight	59 kg
Career
discipline	Triple jump
Best performance	15.03 m
Trainer	Matija Šestak
status	resigned
End of career	2nd August 2014
Medal table
World championships 0 × 0 × 1 × Indoor world championships 0 × 1 × 0 × European Indoor Championships 0 × 1 × 0 × Mediterranean Games 0 × 1 × 0 × U23 European Championships 0 × 1 × 0 × U20 world championships 0 × 0 × 1 × U20 European Championships 0 × 1 × 0 ×
World championships bronze Osaka 2007 14.72 m  Indoor world championships silver Valencia 2008 14.68 m  European Indoor Championships silver Turin 2009 14.60 m  Mediterranean Games silver Tunis 2001 13.97 m  U23 European Championships silver Amsterdam 2001 13.72 m  Junior World Championships bronze Annecy 1998 13.47 m  Junior European Championships silver Ljubljana 1997 13.54 m
last change: June 17, 2020

Marija Šestak ( Serbian Cyrillic : Марија Шестак * 17th April 1979 in Kragujevac , SR Serbia , Yugoslavia as Marija Martinovic , Мартиновић) is a former triple jumper who for Yugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro was launched until 2003 and then for Slovenia started.

Athletic career

Marija Šestak gained her first international experience in 1995 when she was eliminated from the qualification at the Junior European Championships in Nyíregyháza for Yugoslavia with a width of 12.37 m, as well as at the Junior World Championships in Sydney the following year with 12.57 m. In 1997 she reached seventh place at the Mediterranean Games in Bari with 13.23 m and then won the silver medal at the European Junior Championships in Ljubljana with 13.54 m. In addition, she took part in the World Championships in Athens for the first time, but did not reach the final with 13.30 m. Then she was eliminated from the qualification at the Summer Universiade in Catania with a width of 13.15 m. In 1998 she won the bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in Annecy with a jump of 13.47 m.

In 1999 she finished eighth at the U23 European Championships in Gothenburg with 13.14 m and the following year she took part in the Olympic Games in Sydney , where she was eliminated with 13.49 m in qualification . In 2001 she won the silver medal at the U23 European Championships in Amsterdam with 13.72 m and only had to admit defeat to the Russian Irina Wassiljewa . She then started at the Mediterranean Games in Tunis and also won the silver medal there with 13.97 m, this time behind the Algerian Baya Rahouli . In 2002 she won the Indoor Balkan Championships in Piraeus with 14.26 m and qualified for the European Indoor Championships in Vienna , where she finished sixth with 14.00 m. The following year she started again at the Student World Games in Daegu , where she was eighth with a width of 13.12 m. In the following years Šestak had numerous injuries and could not take part in competitions and wanted to end her career with it.

However, her later husband and trainer Matija Šestak convinced her to continue with athletics and so she competed again for Slovenia in 2006. Right from the start she improved to a constant over 14 meters and improved to 14.53 m, which would actually qualify her for the European Championships in Gothenburg and the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham . But since she only became a Slovenian citizen on July 13th, she was not allowed to take part in these championships due to the regulations of the world association. At the end of the season she reached fifth place in the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart with 14.32 m. In 2007 it improved to 14.92 m at the beginning of the outdoor season and thus improved the national record of 14.69 m held by Anja Valant in 2000 by 23 centimeters. She also qualified for the World Championships in Osaka , where she won the bronze medal behind Cuban Yargelis Savigne and Tatjana Lebedewa from Russia with a width of 14.72 m after two athletes placed in front of her were disqualified for doping. In mid-October she started in the long jump at the World Military Games in Hyderabad , where she finished fourth with a jump of 6.09 m, as well as in the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart with 14.31 m in the triple jump. In 2008 she won the silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia with a width of 14.68 m and only had to admit defeat to the Cuban Savigne. However, she received her medal again in retrospect because of a doping-related disqualification of the Greek Chrysopigi Devetzi, who was in front of her . She also qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing , where she improved her national record to 15.03 m in a high-class competition in the final , making her one of the original six athletes who jumped this mark. With another disqualification of two athletes in front of her, she landed in fourth place with this distance. Towards the end of the season she then won the World Athletics Final with 14.63 m.

In 2009 she won the silver medal behind the Russian Anastassija Taranowa-Potapowa at the European Indoor Championships in Turin with 14.60 m . During the outdoor season, however, she was unable to match her performance from the previous year. Although she started at the World Championships in Berlin , she was eliminated there with 13.69 m in qualification. After she had only competed in two competitions in 2010, she again took part in the World Championships in Daegu in 2011 , but did not reach the final there with 13.87 m. In 2012 she was able to improve again and went to the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul , where she was eliminated with 14.05 m in the qualification, before she reached tenth place at the European Championships in Helsinki with 14.01 m. She also managed to re-qualify for the Olympic Games in London and made it into the final , in which she finished tenth with 13.98 m. After this season she ended her career at the age of 33, but started again at the Slovenian championships in 2014, where she finished third with 12.98 m.

In 1998, 1999 and 2001 Šestak was Yugoslav champion in the triple jump and in 2000 in the long jump. For Slovenia she won in 2007 and 2009 as well as in 2011 and 2012 in the triple jump and in 2006 and 2012 in the long jump. In 2007 she also became indoor champion in the long jump.

Life

She is married to the Slovenian 400-meter runner Matija Šestak. On July 13, 2006, she was granted Slovenian citizenship.

Personal best

• Long jump: 6.58 m (+0.6 m / s), June 28, 2007 in Velenje
  • Long jump (indoor): 6.59 m, January 26, 2007 in Budapest
• Triple jump: 15.03 m (+1.1 m / s), August 17, 2008 in Beijing ( Slovenian record )
  • Triple jump (hall): 15.08 m, February 13, 2008 in Athens ( Slovenian record )

Web links

Commons : Marija Šestak  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Marija Šestak in the database of World Athletics (English)