first World Cup held in Düsseldorf, but there he again showed inconsistency when he reached modest 7.79 m to place him 4th. Stekic topped the world for the third time in previous four years in 1978 when he recorded the long-jump of 8.32 m on 16 September at Rovereto. If he produced it one week earlier, he would be a European champion, but in the long-jump final at the continental Champs in Prague, Stekic managed to jump 8.12 m to earn another silver medal, 6 cm behind the gold medalist, Jaques Rousseau (France). He competed at similar level in 1979 and produced 4th best long-jump of the year when winning his fifth Balkan title at the Games in Athens. Stekic also successfully retained his Mediterranean title when winning on home soil at Split in a championship record of 8.21 m. In his preparation for the 1980 Olympic Games at Moscow, Stekic won his only medal (silver) at the European Indoor Championships at Sindelfingen and his sixth and final gold at the Balkan Games at Sofia with his season's best of 8.11 m. Sadly, Stekic injured himself in his very first jump in qualifying round at the Olympics, but continued to compete for a decade after that despite far from the form from the '70s. He finished 5th at the 1982 European Championships in Athens and had rather solid season in 1983, winning the European B Cup at Prague with 8.04 m and finishing creditable 5th at the inaugural World Championships at Helsinki with a leap of 8.09 m. He did not qualify for another Olympic final in 1984, and won his final Yugoslav title in 1985. Stekic did not compete at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart despite producing season's best of 8.19 m and then competed only sparingly until 1991. In the late '80s, Stekić amassed the most jumps over the 8 m mark (later surpassed by Larry Myricks). He is one of the most decorated athletes from former Yugoslavia. Achievements See also Serbian records in athletics References External links 1951 births 2021 deaths Athletes from Belgrade Serbian male long jumpers Yugoslav male long jumpers Olympic athletes of Yugoslavia Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Yugoslavia European Athletics Championships medalists Mediterranean Games gold