CHATEAUROUX, France (Reuters) – With emotion bubbling inside them, Serbian pair Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec showed tremendous resilience to win the 10-metre air pistol mixed team gold at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
The pair erased an early six-point deficit and came back from the brink to beat their Turkish opponents 16-14 in the nerve-racking gold medal duel at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.
Once the scores flashed up, they hugged, tumbled and rolled on the floor, and then revealed the true extent of their emotions in the press conference that followed.
Arunovic choked up and fought back tears as she paid a moving tribute to former Serbia teammate Bobana Velickovic, who died at the age of 30 in 2020 due to complications in childbirth.
The 37-year-old said had she won a medal in Tokyo, she would have dedicated that to Velickovic, who “meant the world to all of us”.
“I am going to use this opportunity to say that she has her own piece in this medal,” Arunovic said.
“It doesn’t matter that it (Velickovic’s death) happened four years ago.
“The memory of her is so very vivid. We all, who knew her and who loved her, as long as we are there, the memory of her will live forever.”
Teammate Mikec, who won the men’s individual silver in Tokyo three years ago, was equally emotional as he recalled the influence of his mother, whom he lost when he was 19.
The 40-year-old mentioned several coincidences and said there were “signs” in the lead-up to his gold medal in the Paris Games.
“I went to her graveyard the day before Paris, and I was sure there would be some signs,” Mikec said.
“The first sign was (that) my accreditation number was her birthday number. I said, ‘OK, wow, this is not by accident!’ Literally, her birthday is my accreditation number.
“A few more signs. I saw 19:56 on the clock, and it was her year of birth.
“That’s why I believe she is with me, and this gold is for her.”
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in Chateauroux; editing by Toby Davis)
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