- December 23, 2024
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When watching the 2024 Paris Olympics, Petar Sibinkic remembers where he's from.
It was 1996 when he was the second man in a four-man canoe representing his home country of Serbia in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He trained twice a day for eight years for that one race.
Sibinkic said they moved like a machine, putting their paddles in the water simultaneously as fast as they could.
Most Longboaters know him as the owner of Longboat Key Fitness, a trainer and a friend. But watching this year’s Olympic Games reminds Sibinkic who he is first and foremost: a two-time Olympian and three-time European kayaking champion.
Sibinkic grew up in Serbia near a river. His elementary school teacher trained local children in kayaking so it was only natural that the river became his backyard.
The sport challenged him physically and mentally. As a result he and his younger brother fell in love with the sport immediately. When Sibinkic was 12 years old, he entered kayak racing competitions.
Being naturally competitive, Sibinkic started to train by kayaking twice a day. He said he didn’t race to just participate, he raced to compete. This was a mentality he saw in most of his Olympian colleagues.
Sibinkic described kayak racing as an intricate and unpredictable sport. Each stroke had to be completely in sync with the other paddlers on the boat or it would move it in the wrong way. The team also had to take into account the wind and how it would affect their chances of winning.
Through his teenage years, Sibinkic trained and competed to become the best in his country. Along with kayaking around 20 miles a day, he incorporated weight and interval training to build stamina. His team also went cross-country skiing during the winter to improve their cardiovascular conditioning.
Sibinkic won three kayak championship medals in the Canoe Sprint European Championships.
At 20 years old Sibinkic qualified for the kayak and canoe sprint at the Olympic trials in 1996. He said he’d always felt a call to the U.S. and he was excited to finally answer it at the Atlanta Olympics.
On July 19 of that year, Sibinkic walked out with a small group of athletes from his country at the Centennial Olympic Stadium. Roughly 3.5 billion people were watching around the world, which made it the most-viewed opening ceremony in Olympics history at the time, according to Axios Atlanta,
“That’s the dream of every athlete to compete,” said Sibinkic. “We were surrounded by the best athletes in the world. Hearing the national anthems, and seeing the flags, it was electric to carry the spirit of the modern Olympic Games, which has so much history. The camaraderie was just incredible. We were enemies on the field but friends on the sidelines.”
Sibinkic’s days started with breakfast in the Olympic Village. This was his time to mingle with other athletes from across the world.
Sibinkic said the energy of the Olympic Village was indescribable. It was a cluster of cultures in every corner. Each athlete had a story that most people watching didn’t know about.
Though he was experiencing different lifestyles from across the world, he noticed how all the athletes had the same mentality: a love for competition, an openness to make friends and a passion for their countries. Sibinkic is still amazed that he was surrounded by many of the greats, such as wrestler Aleksandr Karelin and basketball player Shaquille O'Neal.
Sibinkic and his competitors took place in Gainesville, Georgia, which meant a roughly hourlong bus ride to the competition venue. When he arrived, Sibinkic immediately got on the water to feel how the winds would affect his racing and prepare for his event.
“Before every race you have to deal with this initial anxiety,” said Sibinkic. “But when this pistol fires, anxiety leaves you out and you immediately start paddling. I would find that so interesting, but it was a crucial part of my competition experience.”
Sibinkic placed eighth in the semi-finals in the 1996 Olympic Games.
After he finished his events, Sibinkic watched the other sports such as basketball and cheered on new friends.
On one of his days off, he got lost wandering around the Olympic Village. In search of assistance, he ran into a crowd.
“It was Muhammad Ali,” said Sibinkic. “He was with a group of people and reporters and I came to him, and he shook his hand. For a 20-year-old who had only heard of or seen him on television, it was one of the most inspiring moments.”
In 2000, Sibinkic competed in the Sydney Olympics for Bulgaria. He felt more experienced and determined that time around, which resulted him in placing in fifth.
After the Sydney Olympics, Sibinkic followed his dream of moving to the U.S. in 2005. Sibinkic hung up his paddle after getting his degree in sports technology training. With his vast knowledge of how the body works from being a professional athlete, he wanted to help others grow their health and life span.
To do this, he followed a friend to Longboat Key to work as a trainer at the Longboat Key Club for a year. After making a name for himself as a trainer in Sarasota, he bought his own gym on the island because, for him, all roads lead to Longboat Key.
“By training the way I did as a professional athlete, I have so much knowledge of the human body,” said Sibinkic. “I can tell how to push people when working out and when to stop pushing. I can tell by their breath, in their face and how their bodies move. It feels amazing to turn around the years of training to better myself and use it to improve longevity and help people reach their goals.”
At Longboat Key Fitness, Sibinkic trains around 50 people per week. Using his Olympian determination, he tailors his training to promote peak health as people get older and get the desired results in the lives of Longboaters. Living here for around 20 years now, Sibinkic calls his clients his extended family and prides himself on the community atmosphere of his gym.
With the Olympics airing this year, he has found himself reminiscing. He loves having the sporting events on at the gym so he can constantly share moments from his past with his clients.
Sibinkic found himself on a kayak for the first time in months recently and said he had forgotten how much he loved the feeling of paddling his way around the water.
“This experience shaped me as a person,” said Sibinkic. “The work ethic and the mindset are the most important thing I got from the Olympics. I wouldn’t be standing here today enhancing people’s lives if I didn’t go to the Olympics.”
