Milica Mandić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милица Мандић, born 6 December 1991) is a Serbian retired taekwondo athlete. She is a two-time Olympic champion in the Women's 67 kg category, having won gold medals at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics. She was also the 2017 world champion in the 73 kg category.
Career
Mandić won a bronze medal in the middleweight category (under 73 kg) at the 2011 World Taekwondo Championships and a silver medal at the 2012 European Taekwondo Championships.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics Mandić beat European Championship gold medallist Anastasia Baryshnikova in the semi finals, before defeating top-seeded Anne-Caroline Graffe of France in a 9–7 win, becoming the first gold medalist for independent Serbia.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics she was eliminated in quarterfinals by British Bianca Walkden. At 2017 World Taekwondo Championships she won gold medal, beating South Korean Oh Hye-ri. In April 2020, she announced that she would retire after the 2020 Summer Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were held one year later due to COVID-19 pandemic, she won her second gold medal (first for Serbia in Tokyo 2020) after defeating South Korean Lee Da-bin in the final.
Hall of Fame
Mandić and her trainer Dragan Jović were inducted in the Taekwondo Hall of Fame at the 2013 Ceremony in Las Vegas. She was selected because of her great contribution to the sport in Serbia and across the globe.
End of career
Following the 2020 Summer Olympics, Mandić ended her professional sports career and got married to Mark Đuričić, who she had been in a relationship with for eight years.
References
External links
- Milica Mandić at TaekwondoData.com
- Milica won medal at World Championship-article in Serbian
- Milica won medal at European championship-article in Serbian
- London Olympics 2012
- Milica Mandić at Olympedia
- Milica Mandić at Olympics.com
- Milica Mandić at the Olimpijski Komitet Srbije (former profile) (in Serbian)
