Ivana Maksimovic won two medals at the Changwon World Cup. In the 50m Rifle 3 Positions podium, 2 athletes out of 3 were Serbian. A great season start for the Olympic medallist and her team.
“The Serbian team's secret? If I tell you, then I have to kill you!”
Here's Ivana Maksimovic, joking and laughing after her second medal in two days at the ISSF World Cup in South Korea. Then she gets serious: “We're practising really hard, we love shooting. Someone's studying, someone's working, but shooting is the main thing and when we practise we're feeling complete.”
The new rules gave Ivana and her teammates another goal: “It became a new sport –Ivana said - and we just had to get used to it.” According to the outcome, looks like Maksimovic did it well, coming to a Bronze medal for both 10m Air Rifle and 50m Rifle 3 Positions: “It's amazing, - she said - I've practised so hard and I'm so happy that I made it.”
It wasn't easy, especially with the pressure of an Olympic Silver medal on her back: “I tried not to think about it, - Ivana explained - but every time I get into some competitions everybody start to remember me that I got the Silver medal at the Olympics, so that's a kind of pressure. It's the greatest success of my career so far, but I want to focus on the next challenges.”
The Olympic success didn't change her habits: “The people I hang out with and the places where I go stayed the same, - she said – what changed is how the people react when they see me. That was a big surprise, because shooting is not so famous in Serbia, and I wouldn't have predicted that they would have recognized me and known that I was that girl who won the Olympic medal.”
In spite of the low popularity of shooting in its country, the Serbian team will bring back home some medals from Korea. Besides Maksimovic, another of her teammates got on the podium: it's Andrea Arsovic, first placed at the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event. A series of results that make Ivana believe in a bright future for shooting in her nation: “The Serbian team is great at this sport, - she said - I hope its popularity will soon increase among our people!”
That is another challenge, and Ivana knows the right formula to face it: hard work equals great results. For her, it has already worked out.