Darko Šarović (, born 16 May 1990) is a Serbian medical doctor, PhD in child psychiatry, Master of Science in psychology, and former professional athlete who specialised in the short sprint events, holding a national 100m record in the under 23 category. He is a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He holds both Serbian and Swedish citizenships.
He currently represents the Swedish National Dodgeball Team in the men's and mixed categories, having been voted MVP at the European Championships and won a silver medal at the Central European Dodgeball Championships in 2019. He is the medical director for the World Dodgeball Federation.
Personal life Šarović was born in Belgrade on May 16, 1990, as an only child to parents Zorica Zarkovic and Dusan Sarovic. In 1992, he moved to Borås, Sweden. In 2009, he moved to Belgrade to study medicine at the University of Belgrade, and graduated in 2015. In 2016 he moved to Gothenburg and embarked on a PhD program in child and adolescent psychiatry. He is of Serbian, Croatian and Montenegrin descent.
Šarović's parents were both athletes competing in the highest national leagues in basketball and volleyball. His maternal grandfather was the captain of the Yugoslavia men's national volleyball team, playing the position of setter. He also has cousins in the Serbian National gymnastics and taekwondo Teams. He was previously a member of Mensa.
Education Šarović finished the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at Sven-Eriksonsgymnasiet to receive a bilingual diploma. After high school, in 2009, he enrolled in the 6 year long Medicine and Surgery program at the Medical Faculty at Belgrade University. In 2010, he got elected as the best student having the highest grade point average at the English Medical Faculty. During his second and third years he was a student researcher at the Institute of anatomy where he investigated the effects of maternal deprivation on brain development in rats.Eur J Med Res 16(Supplement I): I-XVIII, 167(2011) ISSN 0949-2321 He graduated in 2015 after defending his graduation thesis in child plastic and neurosurgery on the topic of craniosynostosis.
He has done a clinical internship with integrated research (forskar-AT) at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, and is currently a resident (ST-läkare) in radiology at the same hospital. He was the medical director and chief physician at the 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships, a physician at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships, and is the current director of medicine and anti-doping for the World Dodgeball Federation.
Besides studying medicine, he also holds Bachelors and Master's degrees in psychology and a PhD in child and adolescent psychiatry from the University of Gothenburg where his main area of research was studying autism using magnetoencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging. He has published a theoretical framework for the development of autism called the Pathogenetic Triad. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in radiology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital where he studies social communication using hyperscanning with magneto- and electroencephalography. He is also an affiliated researcher at Uppsala University where he studies ADHD in females.
Sarovic supervises Bachelors and Masters theses in medicine (at the Sahlgrenska Academy) and engineering (at Chalmers University of Technology), and also clinically supervises and teaches medical students. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, the Anti-Doping Agency of Serbia, and the Bioethical Society of Serbia on topics such as exercise physiology, psychology, medical ethics, sports ethics, and doping.
Early athletic career
After starting to practice swimming and gymnastics at age 4, he tried most sports and had multiple practices a day up to his late teens, when he decided to focus solely on track and field.
Sport Time Soccer 2001–2002 + 2004–2009 Handball 2002–2009 Volleyball 2003–2006 + 2008–2009 Football 2006–2008 Tennis 2007–2009 Athletics 2008–present
Soccer Played on the Regional U13 Team. He also participated in the try-outs for the Regional U16 Team. Became regional champion (Västra Götaland) with Byttorps IF's Reserve Team in the Premier Division for reserve teams. Coached the club's U13 team for the seasons 2007–2008. Was a referee for the Junior League 2006–2007.
Handball Played in Byttorps IF in Borås. Made his debut in the senior team at an age of 14, scoring the most goals in a game that season (14). Was on the try-outs for the regional team and got a place on the team, but later lost his place. Competed at the Swedish National Championships in 2006 and was the 5th best scorer (9.8 goals per game). He also got elected as the MVP of the game in 5 of the 6 matches they played.
Volleyball At an age of 13 he started playing the position of setter for the first team in the club IK Ymer, which was at the time in the 3rd division in the Swedish league. In 2006 he finished a referee course to become a referee for the 1st division for women and 3rd division for men.
Football Played in the club Borås RhinosForum post displaying Roster in 2006 and got elected MVP offence in 2007. While playing in the club he scored 21 touchdowns and 86% of the team's points.
Track and field Sarovic started practicing track and field in 2008 in the Swedish club IK Ymer. He practiced track for 3 months as early as in 2001 and placed 3rd in the Regional Championships in the high jump event with a record of 1.25m, but soon lost interest due to the lack of coaches in the club.
He is the fifth fastest serb of all time, and the Serbian U23 record holder in the 100 m. Sarovic is a Balkan 100 m Champion, and 60 m and 4 × 100 m bronze medallist. He is also the Serbian Champion in the 100 m, 200 m (twice) and the pole vault events and Serbian U23 Champion in the 100 m, 400 m and 4 × 100 m. Sarovic represented the Serbian National Athletics Team in the 60 m, 100 m, 200 m, and 4 × 100 m.
2008 In his first 60 m competition he clocked a time of 7.47 to tie for the 4th place at the Regional Indoor Championships. He ended the indoor 2008 season with a personal best of 7.34, recording personal bests in all 10 races.
In his first 100 m race he ran 11.60 at a division 1 meet with IK Ymer placing 2nd. The remainder of the season he traveled around Sweden to competitions trying to qualify for the Swedish U20 Championships (11.50 s). He ended the season with a personal best of 11.53 in allowed winds; 11.26, 11.28, 11.41 and 11.46 with +2.4 or more wind. Since he was close to the qualifying norm, the club decided to allow him to compete at the National Junior Championships in the 100 m and 200 m events where he placed 21st and 19th respectively.
At the end of the season he placed 3rd in the high jump event at the Swedish High School Championships; Also 7th in the 100 m and 300 mH, and 8th in the long jump event.
2009 In the beginning of the season he lowered his personal best to 7.04 at the Regional Championships. He won the gold medal in the 60m, long jump and 60mH events for U20. He also won another gold and a silver in the long jump and 60m events respectively for the senior class.
On March 14–15 he competed at the Swedish National Indoor Multi Event Championships in Eskilstuna and did his first heptathlon. He finished 5th after having scored 4 personal bests.
On March 23, 2009, he badly injured his left ankle when practicing pole vaulting due to a bad fall. After this he was out of practice for more than 4 months, and back in competition in late July. There was little time to get back in shape but he still finished the season with a small personal best of 11.40.
At the end of the season the injury was almost completely healed and he decided to compete in the Swedish National U20 Championships in the decathlon, his first time. He placed second after having scored 5 personal bests.Swedish National Championships for Multi Events 2009 That result still stands as the club record U20 in IK Ymer.
2010 In September 2009, Sarovic moved to Belgrade, Serbia to study medicine. He then started practicing in Red Star Belgrade with coach Ljubisa Stevanovic (). This proved to be a successful cooperation.
The winter season of 2010, still recovering from the injury and not having had a regular practice since March, he averaged 7.21 in the 60m dash.
After getting back on track with practices he opened the outdoor season with a personal best in the 100 m of 11.19. He lowered his personal best 9 more times that season and finally broke the 11 s-barrier at the Serbian National Championships; 10.89 in the qualifying round and 10.90 in the finals to finish 5th on the first day. On the second day he competed in the 200 m and pole vault. He qualified for the final in the 200m event but did not run in it since it was at the same time as the pole vault; the discipline which he went on to win a gold medal in; his first at a national championship.
In 2010 he won a triple gold at the Belgrade Championships: 100 m, 400 m and 4 × 100 m.
Towards the end of the season he lowered his personal best down to 10.83, running out of competition at the Serbian National U18 Championships in Kragujevac, Serbia.
He finished off the season with his second decathlon and became the champion of Vojvodina with 6 new personal bests.
In November he pulled his left hamstring; an injury that persisted across the winter season to April 2011.
2011
During the winter break at his University, Sarovic went back to Sweden to compete. On February 5 he broke the 7 s-barrier with a personal best of 6.96 to finish first in the qualifying rounds of the Gothenburg Regional Championships. In the final he won with a time of 6.86, but that race got restarted due to unknown circumstances. In the re-race he placed 3rd with 7.02.
He also competed in the preparative competition (Road To Göteborg 2013) for the European Indoor Championships that will be held in Gothenburg 2013. There he ran under 7 s for the third time to finish 6th with 6.96 (7.002 in the qualifying rounds).
In the summer of 2011 Sarovic competed in his first major competitions:
First at the Belgrade International Athletics Meet (10.93), then at the European Champion Clubs Cup at his own Red Star stadium (22.18 PB & 10.84). He made his debut in the national team in Novi Sad at the European Team Championships, 2nd League, for the 4 × 100 mETC 2nd League 2011 (40.91). He made his second appearance for the National Team at the 64th Balkan Championships in Sliven, Bulgaria, running the 4x100 and the 100 m and 200 m out of competition. In the 100 m he lowered his personal best to 10.46 (2nd fastest at the Balkan Championships overall) and thus qualified for the European U23 Championships (10.55) in Ostrava, Czech Republic. That is also the 5th fastest time in history in Serbia, a National U23 Record and the fastest time in Serbia in 2011. In the 200 m event he broke the 22s-barrier with a slightly wind assisted race 21.97 (+2.1). His last major competition was the European Championships U23 in Ostrava where he finished 20th after having injured his hamstring.
During the outdoor season he competed at three national championships. At the Serbian U23 championships he finished first in the 400 m and 4 × 100 m, and second in the 100 m event. At the Serbian championships he won the gold medal in the 200 m, the silver in the 100 m, and the bronze in the decathlon event.
2012