Furtula: I will win an Olympic medal

At the European Throwing Cup last weekend in Castellón, Spain, Danijel Furtula from Mojkovic defended his title in junior seniors in the discus throw on Saturday, and on Sunday he surprised everyone with silver in the shot put discipline.

Today, a reception was organized for the Montenegrin athlete, Furtula, at the Montenegrin Olympic Committee, after which the golden athlete, president of the Olympic Committee, Dušan Simonović, and Milorad Vuletić, president of the Athletics Federation of Montenegro, addressed the press conference.

"I am pleased to be here on the occasion of winning our medals. Ours, because without the help of COK and ASCG there would not have been any medals. I am personally satisfied with the work program with coach Danilo Krtinić, with whom I have been working since 2011. I expect even better conditions in order to win the medals that Montenegro dreams of".

"My goal is a medal at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and it is far from unattainable. After the competition in Casteljon, Krtinić told me that he was sure we were doing good things, but that this was only the beginning of the road to the goal - an Olympic medal . As unreal as it may seem now, it is possible with the right approach. I think I am capable of it, and everyone in the team is behind it," promised the 20-year-old from Mojkov.

Furtula showed his enormous talent by winning the title of European Junior Vice-Champion in 2011, and in the previous year he threw the discus for the B Olympic standard and participated in the London Olympics.

This year, he made further progress, and on March 10 in Bar, he threw the discus 64,60 meters, which is the best result among younger seniors in the world, and the fifth shot of the year in the senior competition.

In Castellon, he improved his personal and national shot put record by almost half a meter (18,18 meters).

"I have to be satisfied, these are top-level results. Let's move on, I can make an even better result by the World Championship in Moscow. I promise and it will be like that. Of course, the discus is a priority discipline, but once a week it is necessary to train the shot put".

"That's because of explosiveness, fists... some professional things, so I'm grateful to ASCG for registering me in the shot put in Castellon. The time during the preparations in Bar was excellent, I was fully prepared, so even without training I was able to throw the shot to the medal. And this result is important because of the listing on the IAAF lists," Furtula concluded.

After a few days of rest in Mojkovac, Furtula will do two weeks of preparation in Bar.

"I had a conversation with Furtula, about his program and the series of great results he continuously achieves. Along with sailor Milivoj Dukić and judoka Srđan Mrvaljević, he is our hope for an Olympic medal in the individual competition. Although Furtula promises a medal, we in COK would be satisfied with the participation in the final of the Olympic Games in Rio".

"We expect Furtula to increase our collection of medals from the Games of Small Countries and the Mediterranean Games this year, while he has other competitions in the year in the ASCG program. During his preparations in Bar, we will also hold talks with coach Krtinić, in order to further improve his program. "It's not a big amount, a couple of tens of thousands of euros annually. Furtula is young, and throwers achieve their best results at the age of 30, so we will be looking forward to medals together for a long time to come," Simonović said.

Budget cuts and unclear criteria

"For us at ASCG, after such successes, the alarm rings again. The results of our athletes in recent years are above the conditions and organization. The alarm arises from the need to achieve continuity of top results, and this will be difficult in the current conditions, in which the capital of the country does not have the conditions to practice athletics. We have many talents, especially in technical disciplines, and thanks to the money of the Sports Administration, the help of COK and sponsors, primarily the Airport of Montenegro, for now we manage to realize the most important programs".

"Summer camps must also be organized in the north, maybe in Mojkovac to create conditions, because there is a club under the leadership of the great enthusiast Marko Ristić, who recognized the talent of Danijel Furtula, and in Tara there are also great talents, Kristina Rakočević, Milica Vujadinović, Marija Bogavac... It was all improvised there and with the help of the Mojkovac SO," Milorad Vuletić told ASCG president.

How do you comment on the fact that out of 2,5 million euros of money from the Games of Chance, the Commission of the Ministry of Finance did not support the project of the best athletic club, Tara from Mojkovac?

"I am not familiar with the method of distribution of that money, although I know that there were some objections and problems. I believe that in the future it will be corrected. And it is really not clear to me the criteria by which Tara was bypassed. Work should be encouraged, especially Tara," he stressed. is Vuletić.

The president of COK is also of the opinion that more order is necessary in Montenegrin sports.

"The results are astonishing for such a small country, especially when you take into account the reduction of the sports budget. And we, as the Olympic family, must stand behind our best athletes. One of the biggest problems is the inconsistency of the Law with the IOC Charter. We had over 30 request to the state authorities to harmonize it, but for now it has not been done," warned Simonović.

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