Jelica Vazzaz

A survivor of World War II concentration camps and political persecution, Vazzaz was a teacher of both academics and gymnastics, the Yugoslav national team coach for over two decades, a top-level international judge, a pioneer of Rhythmic gymnastics, a professor, an author of many monographs and journal articles, and an overall promoter of physical well-being.

When she finished school at the Ljubljana Teachers' College in 1934, her political associations with the Sokol Society led to her having to wait four years for a full-time job.

She organized and carried out various illegal and dangerous activities for the resistance, and at one point was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned for 4 months at Miklošičeva Road in Ljubljana[4]: 49  where she was held in solitary confinement while hostages were shot.

[4]: 52  This was a fate that she shared with other competitive gymnasts and Sokol members, from Slavic nations during the time, such as compatriots Lidija Rupnik and Marta Pustišek, as well as Czechoslovakians František Erben, František Pecháček, Ladislav Vácha, Jan Gajdoš, and Vlasta Děkanová, a number of whom did not survive World War II.

[4]: 53 Vazzaz started attending[clarification needed] in the Narodni dom in Ljubljana [sl] at age 6, and joined Sokol in 1928, under the leadership of Milica Šepa.

Many other World Championship and Olympic medalists and champions involved with Slovenian Sokol, such as Viktor Murnik [sl], Boris Gregorka, Peter Šumi, and Miroslav Cerar were in close proximity.

Among the gymnasts she coached were Vida Gerbec, Nevenka Pogačnik, Zdenka Cerar, and Marlenka Kovac – all of whom were World Championships and/or Olympic team members through the 1940s-1970s.

[4]: 78  One telling moment of the importance of her coaching and program occurred at the 1961 Youth Day in Belgrade featuring 2,000 young women from all the Yugoslav republics.

President and Prime Minister of Yugoslavia for over 35 years Josip Broz Tito more than once made a great gesture during snack times during this festival where he once said “Vsi stran, to moje pionirke iz Ljubljane prve dobijo!” - "Everyone away, this is what my pioneers from Ljubljana get first!

Additionally, Novak said that although Vazzaz didn’t keep in touch with the trends of such things as computers, she knew how to play a supporting role.

[4]: 106  Zdenka Cerar said that Vazzaz was very consistent as a trainer and laid down penalties for tardiness or absence, often by banning a student from attending the next training session.

Cerar also underlined Vazzaz’s media savvy which was helpful given the great discrepancy between the results of the Yugoslav men’s and women’s programs at the time.

[4]: 107–108  Toni Bolkovic (her assistant in the Faculty of Sports at the University of Ljubljana who succeeded her in various capacities) said that Vazzaz was meticulous, orderly, strict, demanding, and determined as a professor and inspired awe in her female students.

[4]: 56  Other professional association responsibilities she held were being, until 1957, the head of Partizan Slovenije, and the Vice President, in charge of women, of the Slovenian Gymnastics Federation.

Among the more successful competitors in rhythmic gymnastics that she coached were Marjeta Kline, Dominika Kacin (who eventually became Nedeljka Pirjevec?

[1]: 13 Vazzaz undertook extensive studies and documentation, which included filming, of the 1963 European Championships, 1964 Olympics, and 1970 Worlds, and focused on biomechanical analysis of aspects of the sport.

[4]: 58  In addition to the monographs she published on rhythmic gymnastics, other of her more prominent monographs were two, both co-authored with Boris Gregorka, entitled “Razvoj telovadnega orodja na Slovenskem” (“Development of Gymnastic Tools in Slovenia”) from 1984, and “Zlata doba slovenskega sokolstva” (“The Golden Age of Slovenian Falconry”) from 1991.

She noted that they were especially good on flying rings where their on-apparatus posture was gorgeous, and they had big somersault dismounts with safe landings.

[4]: 138  About the bronze-medal-winning team from the USA, she noted that they were a younger group of contestants, and stood out because of their unique stature, being wide at the shoulders, narrow at the hips, but with too much facial make-up.

[4]: 138  Among the 8th-place Italian team, Vazzaz singled out Laura Micheli, who at only 16 or 17 (especially young for a competitor for this time), was the third-highest scorer, overall, among the competitive field of over 80 contestants, scoring much higher than any of her teammates.

Vazzaz also singled out the Italian team’s work on the optional segment of the beam exercises where they showed some original elements.

She developed her own ideas for family-based gymnastics, offering classes designed specifically for children under the age of 3, and including both their mothers and fathers.

She continued to work diligently organizing all of her effects and documents in her archives, and actively stayed in communication with many of her previous students.

[4]: 94–95 Every time fellow Yugoslav 1924 Olympic Gymnastics All-Around Champion Leon Štukelj came to Ljubljana, he first stopped to see Gregorka, then they both talked with Vazzaz.

Vazzaz's Diploma from the National Institute of Physical Education, Belgrade, Former Yugoslavia
L-R: (?) Babinek, (?) Maria, Ruša Pustišek , Lidija Rupnik-Šifrer , Vazzaz, Marta Pustišek . This photograph of the 1932 Slovenian Sokol Volleyball Team Champions includes three individuals (Rupnik-Šifrer, Vazzaz, and Marta Pustišek) who would later help their Yugoslav national women’s team to their only World Championships team medal (silver), to date, in the sport of Artistic Gymnastics at the 1938 World Championships in Prague . Rupnik-Šifrer and Marta Pustišek were both also on the Yugoslav gymnastics team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics .
Tivoli Hall was the venue for the 1970 Ljubljana World Championships , for which Vazzaz was one of the chief organizers.
Jelica Vazzaz and Boris Gregorka in later life