Interview with Marina Maljkovic: If I had stayed in Partizan we would be settled for Tokyo! (PHOTO) (VIDEO)

Selector and creator of the largest basketball miracle in the region talks about her role models in basketball, a free school for girls and the plans for the new season

They call it the dragon lady, they say that the best coach of Europe, and she is just an ordinary and her own Marina! Serbian basketball player selector Marina Maljkovic again showed that its not all about winning trophies and medals, and there's something in giving oneself and your knowledge for the benefit of the country.

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This is precisely her mission in "Movement for female basketball" which already gathers 100 young girls who train for free in Belgrade. Marina was a guest of Telegraf and we talked with her about the successes from EuroBasket and Rio Olympic games, basketball role models and the gift she received from basketball players.

Its been a month from the great success in the Olympic games in Rio and winning the bronze medal. Did the first impressions settled?

- It's hard to stop thinking about that. Even the gold from EuroBasket from last year can not be forgotten, not in our country nor abroad. Then the bronze followed on the Olympic games which will be long talked about in this generation.

What medal do you hold dearer, gold or bronze?

- Both medals are equally dear to me, because of the fact that it was so miraculous for female basketball in Serbia. After 11 years of not qualifying for European championships. Lets get something clear, we always had good basketball players, but something was missing. And when we were on championships we never won medals. What sets the bronze apart from the rest is that the Olympic games are the greatest competition for an athlete.

After the bronze medal you publicly said "You are better not knowing what I said to them in the locker room". How do you motivate your girls for the game?

- That is a constant fight, the choice of words, the individual talk, group talk, and all of that is the consequence of commitment to work and what a coach should be. Pedagogue and psychologist and mother and father and a professor. If you know to do your job and you are committed, you will always know what word to say in what moment. That is a kind of imagination in every moment and just like they have to adapt to their opponents, I have to find the right solution in the given moment.

What anecdote or nice story is left in memory during your work with the players?

- The gift they gave me in Rio before the competition. It left a special mark on me, because coaches did not get the phones from the sponsors, only the players. They decided to give me the phone that costs a lot, and that was the phone with the Olympic circles engraved in it. That was a nice gift for these four years of being together.

How hard is to be a woman in sport?

- The fact itself is that a woman must change her life if she wants to be in sports. The question is how hard is to do something like that if you are in sports your entire life. It is very hard to plan, "I will play basketball, and later I will be a mother". That's not how it goes, it happens spontaneously.

Is it true that your role model was Vijosevic?

- I had no role model. It was said that it is Dusko Vukosevic, Bora Cenic, those are the people I respect greatly, but it is not the case. I am not the kind of person to have a role model. There are people I respect, and that is colleague Vujosevic, but I have been myself entire time.

Did you ever have a favorite athlete when you were a child?

- Absolutely the same thing. Since I know for myself, I have been in basketball, and I could always determine some characteristic of the player that I like. Weather that is courage, calmness in decisive moments, lucidity... But I had no role models.

The movement for women's basketball is rampant in Belgrade. How are you satisfied with the work?

- I want to show what I think, to show what is in me, and that is love for this country. After the gold on EuroBasket I thought what should I do. And that is to continue the same way. Going down to basis and working with the youngest. This is where the movement started.

- I am proud, we have 100 girls in the movement. We are slowly covering Belgrade. We want to build it in every municipality. With the help of mayors, we already started going through Serbia, we started in Pozarevac and our goal is to have as much girls as possible.

You took over Galatasaray, what are the club goals?

- The situation varies in comparison to the last two, three years when Galatasaray won the Euroleague. Now there is focus on creating talent. The best young players of Turkey are in Galatasaray. They called me to make at least from one of those players a star, and the rest should be good players in their league. We are going slowly with few older ones and try to make a result worthy of the name.

You were a coach of Partizan four years ago, are you sorry it all broke down fast and would you continue if it had influence to the national team?

- Now we would be totally come and we would have a calm cycle before Tokyo, That is the most direct. Capital city must have a serious team in Euroleague and two teams in Euro cup. For relatively small money you receive a stable club and complete peace for years ahead of you and two Olympic cycles. Partizan was a backbone, the pillar of national team and everything that happened was beautiful. Not only the players who are there in the team since they were 12 but the others that weren't as well. The last time the basketball was played in the Sports Hall as in 2011/2012.

(Telegraf.co.uk / J.M. / D.S.)