Background
Joško Vlašić was born in 1956 in Split.
Joško Vlašić was born in 1956 in Split.
He started with athletics in ASK Group (a software company) Split, a local club His coach Ante Tešija decided Vlašić would do well in decathlon, describing him as "tall and skinny". According to Tešija, Vlašić was initially very skeptical regarding his aptitude for the sport, but he was tenacious, loved to train, and the results came quickly.
In the following years, Vlašić became the leading Yugoslav decathlete, winning five consecutive national championships, from 1979 to 1983.
Vlašić also competed in the 1983 World Championships, placing 16th. Vlašić"s decathlon personal best of 7659 points, set in Izmir in June 1983, is still the Croatian record.
As of 2014, no other Croatian athlete has come within 600 points of his mark. Coaching career
In 1982 Vlašić graduated from the Faculty of Physical Culture in Zagreb, department in Split.
From 1994 to 2001, Vlašić worked as a fitness coach in KK Split basketball club
Since 2006, Vlašić is employed by the Croatian Athletics Federation as a professional athletics coach. In her youth, she tried many athletic events, as well as sports such as tennis, basketball and volleyball, but settled on high jump after consultation with her father. She describes her father as her "greatest asset".
Vlašić"s greatest competitive success was winning the decathlon gold medal at the 1983 Mediterranean Games, but he is best known for coaching his daughter Blanka Vlašić, a world champion high jumper. He won two decathlon medals in consecutive Mediterranean Games: bronze in 1979, and gold in 1983. As a high jumper, she became a double world outdoor champion, double world indoor champion, European champion, Olympic silver medalist, and double world junior champion. Joško Vlašić is married to Venera, a physical education teacher and a former cross-country skiing national champion.
