Nothing can stop Vesna Mišić from playing sports.
Basketball, futsal or table tennis, the Special Olympics World Games champion from Bosnia and Herzegovina always figures out a way to make sport a part of her packed schedule, even when all the gyms are closed.
“During the pandemic I was practising with a ball in my apartment,” Mišić said. “I made the ball from paper, and I practised football in my apartment during the pandemic because we couldn’t go out.”
Her dedication paid off big. In 2023, Mišić won Bosnia and Herzegovina’s only gold medal, in futsal, at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin.
This winning attitude has also carried over to her basketball endeavours. Less than six months after her triumph in the German capital, Mišić won the Regional West Balkans Unified 3x3 Basketball Tournament, held in Tirana, Albania from 1 to 3 December, part of European Basketball Week.
“I am feeling great,” she said after celebrating the victory with her team. “I am really happy because we won, because I am here and because I am part of this tournament.”
The 24-year-old took up basketball in school at age 10. Futsal and table tennis also made it into her weekly routine.
Mišić liked the three sports right away and while it is a juggling act between the different training sessions, the young athlete makes it work.
“I play futsal and if I want to play basketball, I play basketball and usually once during the week I have training in a table tennis club,” she said. “I play with people who don’t have a disability. It’s inclusion.”
Whatever the sport of the day, Mišić has at least one daily training session. This adds up to 10 hours of training across the three sports during the week.
In June she travelled to her second Special Olympics World Games as a member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s futsal team. In the final game, the squad defeated Hong Kong 3-1 with Mišić scoring one of the goals.
“When I scored a goal in the final, that’s my favourite memory from Berlin,” said Mišić who also competed in futsal at the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi in 2019.
In addition to sport, Mišić stays busy outside of training hours.
A chef by profession, she is now studying graphic design at secondary school and hopes for this to become her new career path. The athlete also recently completed an IT course at the Center for Education and Research “Nahla” in Sarajevo to enhance her skill set.
“The main goal is to be independent so I can live by myself or with my friends,” Mišić said of her plans for the future.
After becoming a champion in multiple sports, there is little doubt that her goal is well within her reach.
