In the shot put category at the Summer European Youth Olympic Festival, 16-year-old Kosovo athlete Muhamet Ramadani won a gold medal, reaching a distance of 19.5 meters, beating Russian athlete Semyon Borodayed who took silver with 18.83 meters, and Sweden’s Jasper Ahlin at 18.71 meters, who took bronze.

The medal was presented to Ramadani by Besim Hasani, the president of Kosovo’s National Olympic Committee. The 16-year-old became the first ever Kosovo athlete to win a European youth medal.

Ramadani dedicated his triumph to his family, the coach, his shot put club in Mitrovica and all the people of Kosovo, he said.

Ramadani’s coach Xhavit Tahiri called it a “historic’ win,” saying that he hopes next year that Ramadani will compete in the world championships in the under 20’s category.

This year, the Kosovo National Youth Olympic team was represented by 18 athletes from the ages of 15 to 18: three judo representatives, a team of five swimmers, two wrestlers, four in athletics and four tennis players took the trip to Azerbaijan. This was Kosovo’s only medal this year, and its first medal for the shot put.

This is the third time Kosovo has participated in the European Youth Olympics after Tbilisi, Georgia in 2015 and Gyor, Hungary in 2017.

On Friday, the Kosovo Olympic Committee announced that it has received an invitation to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympics from the International Olympic Committee. 

Kosovo has competed only once before at the Olympic Games. In 2016 Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, judoka Majlinda Kelmendi won Kosovo’s first ever gold medal.