Personal
The son of Vaso (Васо) and Milka (Милка) Bodiroga, Dejan is a devout Orthodox Christian. His father hails from the village of Bodiroge near Trebinje and was among the wave of migrants from Herzegovina that moved northwards following World War II. On July 13, 2003, Bodiroga married his long-time fiancée Ivana Medić (Ивана Медић) in Belgrade's Saborna crkva (one of the most significant Serbian Orthodox Cathedrals). The couple's first child, a boy named Nikola (Никола), was born 23 July 2004.
He is a relative of another European basketball player - Dražen Petrović. His grandmother (on his father's side) and Petrović's grandfather (also on his father's side) are brother and sister, making Bodiroga and Petrović second cousins.
Though he never played for the club, Bodiroga is a declared fan of Partizan Belgrade and is often seen at their games. Bodiroga is one of the founding members of the Group Seven Children's Foundation.
He is one of few players who have won the Euroleague with clubs from two different countries, and he is also one of the few players to win each of the top 3 European national domestic leagues, the Italian League, the Greek League, and the Spanish League.
Bodiroga is very highly regarded by fans of Panathinaikos BC for his known passion in games with Greek arch-rival Olympiacos and is considered by them as one of the most loved players of all time. In his home country of Serbia, he is idolized for his on-court prowess and also revered for his unassuming, humble and quiet way of going about matters off the court.
Read more about this topic: Dejan Bodiroga
Famous quotes containing the word personal:
“Hostesses who entertain much must make up their parties as ministers make up their cabinets, on grounds other than personal liking.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Q: Have you made personal sacrifices for the sake of your career?
A: Leaving a three-month-old infant in another person’s house for nine hours, five days a week is a personal sacrifice.”
—Alice Cort (20th century)
“What stunned me was the regular assertion that feminists were “anti-family.” . . . It was motherhood that got me into the movement in the first place. I became an activist after recognizing how excruciatingly personal the political was to me and my sons. It was the women’s movement that put self-esteem back into “just a housewife,” rescuing our intelligence from the junk pile of “instinct” and making it human, deliberate, powerful.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)