1990 Bob Beamon (USA)
Fifteen years ago Bob Beamon was already a nearly forgotten long jump world record holder. His 8.90 metre jump from the Mexico Olympic Games was dubbed the jump for the new millennium. That 23 October 1968 Beamon was only 22. It had been a once in a lifetime achievement, or rather never in a lifetime, and soon after Beamon finished his sports career and retired. This outstanding athlete was forgotten by all save the Belgrade Marathon. It was as if the people from Humska Street had anticipated the new revolution in long jumping that was just around the corner and brought Bob Beamon to Belgrade in the capacity of the first Belgrade Marathon promoter.
One could have hardly found a person more appropriate than him at the moment. Bob Beamon proved that by making friends with the Belgraders, the youngest runners and professional athletes alike, by sending out good vibrations and bringing smiles to everyone’s faces despite the language barrier. Bob Beamon’s stay in Belgrade made it to the news of many media worldwide.
A year later at the World Championship in Tokyo, Mike Powell ended Beamon’s 23 year supremacy by jumping 8.95 meters. Bob Beamon did what any great sportsman would: he was amongst the first to congratulate the new world record holder.
 

1991 Emil Zatopek (Czech Republic)
Nicknamed the “Czech Locomotive“, Emil Zatopek remains one of the most radiant legends of the queen of sports, Olympic Games and marathons, and therefore the best possible choice for a promoter of marathon running.
In addition to that, Emil Zatopek competed against many Yugoslav long-distance runners of the 1950’s and 1960’s, and, as with Franjo Mihalić, a marathon runner and a silver Olympian, remained friends with until the very end of his life.
Emil Zatopek ran in such a fashion that many thought his head would fall off from his shoulders, he seemed to be in pains and that he would give up any minute, but he kept the lead, not yielding till the last metre. The Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952 saw the most brilliant moments of Zatopek’s eventful career when he achieved a feat that remains unparalleled to this day. He triumphed in all three long-distance races – the 5000m, the 10,000m and the marathon! Four years earlier at the London Olympic Games he ranked first in the 10,000m and second in the 5000m. He was also a three-time European champion, and set 18 world records between 1949 and 1955.
Unfortunately, illness prevented Emil Zatopek from coming to Belgrade in 1991, but he, nonetheless, sent the words of encouragement to the Belgrade marathon runners and his thoughts were with them.
 

1992 Patrik Sjöberg (Sweden)
Patrik Sjöberg, one of the best high-jumpers of all time, will always be remembered by his long blond hair and immaculate jumps. Precisely two metres tall Swede took part in the greatest athletic competitions in the 1980’s and the beginning of the 1990’s. Always on top, always up to top achievements.
He took part in three editions of the Olympic Games and won two silver medals and a bronze. He never won an Olympic gold, but he won a title of the world champion in Rome in 1997. He became notorious for his performance at indoor competitions. He completed his collection of medals from the World Championships, and was the best at four of the European Championships. Statistics has it that at 23 major competitions (European and World Championships and Olympic Games) he took part in his career, he had a 100% achievement regarding qualifying for the finals, 52% when it comes to winning medals and 26% concerning gold medals.
Patrik Sjöberg was also somewhat of a record-hunter: he set an outdoor world record in 1987 (2,42 m), two indoor world records (2,38 and 2,41), two outdoor European records (2,38 and 2,42), two indoor European records (2,38 and 2,41), 12 outdoor Swedish records and ten indoor ones, and a total of 19 national junior records.
Sjöberg jumped four times above 2,40 m; 23 times above 2,36; 50 times above 2,33 and even 117 times above 2,30 m, which definitely makes him the world record holder. He demonstrated his champion-like behaviour at the Belgrade Štark Marathon together with his host Dragutin Topić.
 

1993 Fred Lebow (USA)
Fred Lebow, born Fischel Lebowitz in Romania in 1932, lived in Ireland and Czechoslovakia before moving to New York and bequeathing to the city that never sleeps his life’s work - the New York City Marathon. Fred Lebow started running in order to improve his fitness for tennis matches with his friends. Soon enough, however, he forgot all about tennis and devoted himself entirely to running, remaining faithful to it until the end of his days. As an amateur marathoner he ran 69 marathons in 30 countries on all continents, and he ran the half marathon race at the 1993 Belgrade Štark Marathon just few months after he had undergone a serious operation.
Fred Lebow was happy to accept the role of the promoter because he had good friends in Belgrade. He saw it as a personal duty, for he felt obliged to demonstrate in the name of the Association of International Marathons and Road Races (AIMS) that the sports sanctions were absurd and refutable.
The friendship of the Belgrade Marathon and Fred Lebow started few years earlier when the father of modern marathon movement encouraged the organisers of the Belgrade race to embark on a journey that would make their vision come to life. But Lebow did more than just talk. He came personally to Belgrade to define the new course for the 3rd Belgrade Marathon and contributed to its admittance to the AIMS.
However, the greatest proof of friendship was his 1993 visit despite his heavy illness. After his death on 9 October 1994, the Belgrade Marathon, with the consent of his family and the New York Road Racing Club, established the Fred Lebow Trophy which is awarded to the winners in men’s and women’s competitions.
 

1994 Carl Lewis (USA)
Frederick Carlton Lewis, better known as Carl Lewis, was elected the 20th century’s most successful athlete, that is, of all time, by the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF).
Lewis’ nine gold medals earned him a place in the exclusive company of the most successful Olympic athletes of all time. He is one of the three athletes who won four gold medals at a single Games and one of the two who won four consecutive Olympic golds in the same event.
Carl Lewis was officially the world’s fastest man; he was a member of world’s fastest relay team for a number of times, a long jumper with the longest winning streak and the highest number of jumps over 8,50 meters.
Accepting the role of the promoter of the 1994 Belgrade Štark Marathon while Yugoslavia was under the sanctions, Carl Lewis, also known as “Mister Athletics”, proved to be a great sportsman as well.
He agreed to it regardless of the reactions it might provoke in his home country, he agreed to it even though he had to utter the words of a strange language in front of the cameras „Come to the Belgrade Štark Marathon”. Unfortunately, he was unable to come to Belgrade, but he invited the athletes to come to Belgrade via television. He may yet come...
 

1995 Ibrahim Hussein (Kenya)
Ibrahim Hussein is considered one of the world’s most prominent marathon runners of the last two decades of the 20th century. He tried out the 42,195 m race for the first time as a mature athlete aged 27. So far his personal bests were 3:42,9 in the 1500m in 1983; 4:00,2 in the one mile race in 1983; 7:51,19 in the 3000m in 1984; 13:50,65 in 5000m in 1984; 8:35,4 in the 3000m steeplechase in 1984.
Having decided to skip the 10,000m, a logical choice in the evolution of all marathon runners, Hussein’s first marathon triumph was in Honolulu (2:12,08) in 1985 and he defended it the following year (2:11,44). He won the New York City Marathon in 1987 with 2:11,01. In 1988 he discovered the world’s oldest marathon and triumphed trice in Boston – in 1988 with 2:08,43; in 1991 with 2:11,06 and in 1992. with 2:08,14.
Unfortunately, Hussein also failed to arrive in Belgrade in time, but he sent his best wishes to the marathon organisers and participants, along with his younger brother Mbarak, who won the third place.
 

1996 Lasse Viren (Finland)
Lasse Viren was 23 when he became one of the track-and-field and Olympic immortals. He triumphed twice at the 1972 Münich Olympic Games. He won the 5000m and the 10,000m, a feat previously only achieved by his fellow countryman Kolehmainen, the Czech Zatopek and the “Soviet” Kuts. In addition to all this, Viren set the world record in the 10,000m even though he suffered a fall after 4500 metre mark. Shy and quiet Fin stood up and continued the race, caught up with the other runners and triumphed setting the new world record, second of three that he set that season.
Still, it was not the end of the story of Lasse Viren, who, having finished his career, had the reputation of being able to triumph only at the Olympic Games. In Montreal in 1976 Viren defended his 5000m and 10,000m golds, an exploit unparalleled to this day. However, Viren was not satisfied. He entered the Olympic marathon, and it was his marathon debut. Unfortunately, he failed to win a medal, but he crossed the finish line fifth, having run in one week at the Games, in qualifiers and finals, the total of 72 kilometres and 195 metres.
Lasse Viren, whose bronze statue was erected in front of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in 1994, next to the monument of Paavo Nurmi, arrived in Belgrade as the mayor of his home town of Myrskyl.
 

1997 Sergei Bubka (Ukraine)
Sergei Bubka is reputed to be one of the best athletes of all time. He was the first person to clear 6 meters (44 times in his career). He still remains the outdoor pole vault world record holder with 6,14 meters (Sestriere, July 7th 1994) and the owner of best indoor result - 6,15 meters (Donetsk, February 21st 1993).
He set 17 outdoor and 18 indoor world records, which is an absolute world record in itself, and he is also an absolute record holder regarding the number of world championship titles. He won the first six World Championships, from Helsinki in 1983 to Athens in 1997, missing the seventh in Seville in 1999 because of an injury.
He triumphed at the Seoul Games in 1988 and the Atlanta Games in 1996. He was the indoor world champion in 1983, 1987, 1991 and 1995, an European champion in Stuttgart in 1986. He was unbeaten in all major competitions between 1983 and 1990.
 

1998 Gelindo Bordin (Italia)
Gelindo Bordin ran his first marathon on 7 October 1984 in Milan and won with 2:13,20. He ran one or two races per year, and made only one exception in 1990 when he competed trice and won trice: in Boston, Split and Venice.
He is the only marathon runner who managed to defend the title of an European champion. His first victory was in Stuttgart in 1986 with 2:10,53 and he defended it in Split in 1990 with 2:14,02.
At the Rome World Championship in 1987 he ranked third with 2:12,40 behind Douglas Wakiihuri (Kenya) and Ahmed Saleh (Djibouti). However, at the Seoul Games in 1988, it was him who came in first with 2:10,31; Wakiihuri was second and Saleh was third. In that race, behind him were some of the greatest marathon names of all time: Japan’s Nakayama, Australia’s Moneghetti and de Kastella, Tanzania’s Ikangaa...
At the time of his arrival to Belgrade, his personal best of 2:08,19 that brought him victory in Boston in 1990 was the 30th result of all time. With the average time of 2:09,46 from his five fastest races (Boston, 1990: 2:08,19; Boston, 1988: 2:09,27; New York, 1989: 2:09,40; Seoul, 1988: 2:10,31; Stuttgart, 1986; 2:10,53) he holds the 19th place on the all time best list.
 

1999 Marathon Runners Without Frontiers
Due to the state of war and daily bombing of Belgrade, it was decided that the event should not take place. However, because of the support of the friends worldwide a race was organised under the motto «Stop the War – Run the World». Its heroes and the true promoters of marathon running were 39 athletes from Russia, Germany, Macedonia, Bulgaria, USA, Republic of Srpska and Yugoslavia who, despite of the constant threat from the air, together ran 42,195 metres with the same time (3:17,00).
Their names are kept from the oblivion: Boris Prokopyev, Oleg Koslov, Valery Ukhov, Michael Turzinsky, Heinz Lorber, Ivica Dimiskovski, Pero Todorovski, Petko Karpachov, Dimitar Kichov, Toma Tomov, Bojan Bojchev, Zane Branson, Borislav Dević, Dragoslav Prpa, Ramiz Taipi, Željko Milović, Predrag Marinović, Zoran Janković, Zdravko Mišović, Željko Petrović, Goran Ješić, Nenad Milekić, Drago Musić, Veselin Petrušić, Dušan Vujić, Drago Boroja, Danilo Spasojević, Veljko Živković, Miodrag Petrić, Slobodan Sudarov, Slobodan Mirosavljev, Zoran Marković, Jožef Čuport, Milisav Janković, Đuro Čapko, Petar Đurov, Milutin Babić, Mihajlo Drča and Milovan Ugarčina.
- I came to Belgrade to express my solidarity with my marathon friends that I have never met until today. I am here to send a message of peace to the world together with them. – said on behalf of all the present the 33-year-old German marathoner Heinz Lorber.
 

2000 Anders Olsson (Sweden)
The year 2000 saw as the guest of the Belgrade Marathon none of the champion athletes, but a successful member of the marathon movement, the director of the Stockholm Marathon Anders Olsson.
- We don’t have the Boston or the New York City Marathons’ budget, nor can we attract the marathon names that they can. However, it is not the names of the participants that make a marathon great, but the number of participants. That is why the Stockholm Marathon is one of the great marathons. In the first years of our marathon the Stockholm authorities were not wholeheartedly with us. Now, having realised its importance, they begin to participate more closely in its organisation. Organising a marathon is a great marketing move, primarily tourism-wise. Five thousand guests from abroad visited the last Stockholm marathon. It was the busiest day in all of Sweden, - explained Anders Olsson his view of the marathon philosophy.
The fact that the Stockholm Marathon is truly a great marathon is confirmed by the data from the last year’s race when 9660 men and 2732 women crossed the finish line.
 

2002 Vera Nikolić (SCG)
Vera Nikolić was the first female promoter of the Belgrade Marathon, and the first home athlete to have the honour bestowed upon her.
Vera Nikolić was 13 when she began training in Ćuprija under the supervision of Aleksandar Petrović, and soon her talent revealed itself. In 1964, aged 16 she became Yugoslav Junior Cross-country Champion and Balkan Junior Cross-country Champion. That summer she set the first national junior record with 57,3 in the 400m, followed by another record in her event – 2:14,4 in the 800m. In Budapest in 1966, albeit still a junior, she became European champion in the 800m with 2:02,8, thus setting a new national record and the season’s world best, and she confirmed this title two weeks later triumphing at the European Junior Championship.
The greatest achievement of her career was at the Crystal Palace in London on 20 July 1968 when she ran for the first time on tartan and beat the entire world running elite setting a world record of 2:00,5. She was only 19.
At the European Championships she won a bronze in 1969, and triumphed again in 1971, this time with 2:00,0, which remains the second best result of all time.
Her best Olympic ranking was the fifth place in Münich in 1972 with her personal best 1:59,6. She was unbeaten for eight years on home track, before exchanging athlete’s career for coaching.
 

2004 Olivera Jevtić (SCG)
The 17th Belgrade Marathon promoter Olivera Jevtić promised an excellent marathon career as a young girl when she ran the Belgrade half marathon race together with her coach Slavko Kuzmanović and ranked third in women’s competition.
She triumphed in half marathon in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2002, or to be more precise every time she participated, before turning to marathon running and major marathons. She took part in seven marathons so far and became our best female marathon runner of all time. She triumphed in Rotterdam, ranked third in Boston, sixth at the Athens Games, eighth at the World Championship in Paris, and did great in New York, and it is beyond any doubt that her best races are yet to come.
To corroborate this one only needs to take a look at her achievements in the junior and under 23 competitions. She won a silver and a bronze medal at the European Junior Championships, a silver medal at the World Junior Championships, two gold medals at the European Under 23 Championships, a set of the Mediterranean Games medals, as well as four consecutive bronze medals at the European Cross-country Championships.
 

2005 Merlene Ottey (Slovenia)
Belgrade fell in love with Merlene Ottey, and she was not indifferent either. „Atmosphere, on and off track, was amazing. We’ll see each other again. I promise.“
Ottey holds the record of most Olympic medals won by an individual female athlete 8 (-, 3, 5). Together with Australia’s Strickland and Poland’s Szewinska she ranks first when it comes to the number of Olympic medals won in an individual event (6). She is also the most successful Olympic athlete of all time when it comes to the points won in qualifying for the finals (13 finals, 69 points).
She is the only female athlete who took part in seven editions of the Olympic Games.
In Sydney in 2000 she became the first female Olympian to win a medal 20 years after the winning of her first Olympic trophy. At the same time, she became the oldest female athlete to win an Olympic medal (40 years 143 day).
Merlene Ottey is the most successful participant of the World Championships where she won 14 outdoor (3, 4, 7) and six indoor (3, 2, 1) medals, and she also won a total of 5 medals (3, 1, 1) at the Commonwealth Games.