STJEPANOVIC Velimir

General
MOVE TO BELGRADE
In 2017 he moved from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Belgrade, Serbia to train under the guidance of coach Sebastijan Higl. "He was from Serbia, so it was logical for me to come here and train. I knew that I would have pool time and it just made sense. Sebastijan is a very good coach. He's very technique driven, so for me, who's not that big, doesn't have big feet, and is 182 centimetres tall, I need my technique to be perfect and he's very detail orientated in that sense. It's much more of a relaxed approach and I think that helped me get back on track to what I wanted to achieve. We butt heads sometimes, but no athlete and coach can say that they haven't argued at least once." (SwimSwam Podcast, 17 Apr 2021)

REPRESENTING SERBIA
He was born in the United Arab Emirates after his parents moved there for work in the late 1980s from Yugoslavia. He decided to represent Serbia at international level, having also had offers to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Great Britain. "It was a natural choice for me. I am Serbian and am very patriotic about my country, I've always loved it so there was never a doubt about which country I'd represent. Serbia is also more developed when it comes to swimming, especially due to Milorad Cavic's results over the past years - swimming has become very popular in Serbia." (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 11 Jan 2016; b92.net, 16 Aug 2012; SwimSwam Podcast, 17 Apr 2021)

INSPIRING YOUNG ATHLETES
He likes to give the medals he wins to young swimmers. "All my medals, except the most important, I give to kids, because I see that it means a lot to them. I want to cheer them, but also motivate them to continue their training." (sport.blic.rs, 26 Feb 2016)