Milan Trajkovic, the Cypriot champion of sprint hurdles, will add a third Olympics to his resume at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games this summer.
The 32-year-old will also carry the Cyprus flag at the opening ceremony, alongside high jumper Elena Kulichenko.
Trajkovic, who was raised in the Serbian town of Surdulica but emigrated with his family to Cyprus at the age of nine, specialises in the 110 metres hurdles, which involves jumping a series of ten hurdles roughly a metre in height.
In 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, he became the first Cypriot athlete to qualify for this event at the Olympic Games. He finished an impressive seventh overall.
Trajkovic’s goal for Paris is to “qualify for the final”, and any result that beats his seventh spot will be hugely satisfactory.
“It will be very difficult,” he predicts. “I usually go in and run and do my best.”
Due to the postponed Tokyo Games in 2021, Trajkovic only had three years to prepare for the 2024 Olympics. During this time, he recalls that the Games were always in the back of his mind.
It wasn’t until September 2023, however, that the “big goal” of the Olympics became more of a priority. Knowing that he had qualified, he focused on training hard so he could perform at his best in Paris.
Trajkovic has positive memories from his two previous Games and he particularly enjoyed staying in the Olympic Village.
“I like it a lot because you see a union of different people. They are all gathered in one place, they eat together, they train together, and it’s a very pleasant atmosphere,” he said. .
Especially electrifying are the opening ceremonies. He describes that participating in the procession “is something special, where you remember the sacrifices you’ve made to get there.” This year’s ceremony will take place on Friday evening.
Trajkovic’s first taste of action will be on August 4. Next stop after the Olympics is the 2025 World Athletics Championship in Tokyo. After that, the hurdler is unsure where he will land – figuratively, of course.
Heading to Paris, though, he knows that his main goal is “to bring joy and pride to the island.”
And it’s safe to say that the Olympics will bring joy to him as well. As he put it, “the Olympic Games are the most beautiful thing that has happened to me.”
