Serbian referee Jasmina Juras is a stalwart of the 3x3 basketball movement, boasting a CV which spans multiple national and international tournaments, including three Olympic Games. A prominent and respected figure at FIBA 3x3 events today, it has been more than a quarter of a century since she earned her refereeing credentials - initially in the 5x5 game – and 27 years in which Jasmina has helped shape the game by making basketball more inclusive for female referees.
During the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she became the first women in the Games’ history to officiate a men’s final in any sport. While this is a feat which gives her immense pride, Jasmina expresses her hope that more women can follow in her footsteps. Whereas FIBA 3x3 became the first discipline to deliver 50-50 male-female representation during its Olympics debut in Tokyo, the reality is that female officiating has often been limited to women’s sports, she says, despite winds of change happening in the 3x3 format.
“Until now, I am still the only referee to officiate both basketball formats at the Olympics,” Jasmina says. “With my experience at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where I refereed the 5x5 women’s semi-final between Russia and the US, it was exciting to help put 3x3 basketball on the highest level at Tokyo, to show everybody what the sport can give to the world and open the door for other female athletes and referees to work in this sport.
“Of course, the Tokyo Games were impacted by Covid – so there was lots of pressure. When I was told that I was the first woman in any Olympic sport ever to officiate a men’s final, that was for me a huge privilege. I am really happy it happened and I only hope it is happening in other sports. I really hope and cross my fingers that this happens.”
In her own words, the journey to the sport’s pinnacle hasn’t been an easy one during a period when refereeing has been a predominately male occupation. Jasmina first picked up a basketball in the late 1980s, at the age of 10, and went on to achieve medals for Serbia at youth level. However, as her interests changed, it was during her time playing for ZKK “Vojvodina” Novi Sad at the age of 20 when Vladan Borovina, a top-flight referee in Serbia at the time, recommended her to take an officiating course.
“He proposed to me to train as a referee,” Jasmina continues. “In Serbia, at the time, it was very tough for a woman to become a referee. He explained that there was a girl from Belgrade who was doing the same, and I am really happy that he did. If he didn’t push me to pass my exams, it wouldn’t have happened. I really appreciated that. He is always surprised whenever I mention him in interviews. I tell him I will always talk about you because you deserve it. He was the one who helped start my refereeing career.”
Having passed her training in 1998, Jasmina went on to become an official FIBA referee in 2005. By 2007, she was called up to her first European senior competition before being selected among the official refereeing roster for the Beijing 2008 Olympic 5x5 basketball competitions.
“Before then, it was a difficult time because, in the Balkans, everyone expected refereeing to be a man’s job and that women couldn’t referee to the same level,” Jasmina explains. “I was pushing myself to prove to everybody that I could do it, too – and perhaps do it even better than the men. We were lucky that FIBA had started a program for female officiating. There were only a few women officiating at the time, but that program encouraged the national federations to train female referees.
“I’d always had the feeling that every year I needed to start from zero. As the years have passed, I’ve built the confidence that I belong at the highest level and began giving more motivation to the new girls coming into the sport. But it wasn’t easy because officiating basketball was still male dominated, and it was rare to see a woman officiating the games. That’s what they would always notice first: ‘Oh, it’s a female referee.’
“The crowd was watching you in a different way. Thankfully, they have grown more receptive and respectful. I’d continually ask why – even though we were going to the Olympics – women weren’t being invited to referee FIBA’s men’s competitions, only the women’s. It was Alison Muir, the FIBA Commissioner based in England, who pushed hard for more female representation and recommended for some of us to officiate the 2013 EuroBasket championship in France. We put together the first female crew in Europe to officiate a top-tier competition. That began to open doors for us.”
Considering her experience in basketball, Jasmina’s insights are valuable to making refereeing more inclusive in other sports. “I was invited to a clinic with Serbian football referees to discuss our approach to mixed refereeing in basketball,” she expands. “But I haven’t had the opportunity in other federation sports. Only on these few occasions and mainly within basketball.
“By comparison, FIBA 3x3 never made a difference between the men and women – right from the beginning. They always treated us as equals and have always held this gender equality. That translated to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, too. FIBA was the only sport with a 50-50 gender parity and then in Paris 2024 the sport had more women than men. That’s really helped encourage change. Overall, the sport is moving forward.”
The biggest benefit of increasing female representation, she says, is to change the perception of female referees – so that “everybody views you only as a referee and not as a woman”.
“Only then do they start to see you as an equal and are not judging your decisions because you are a woman,” she says. “By mixing the men and women together, we start to see the number of those comparisons reduced and we begin talking as referees, not as males and females. What this means is it is becoming the norm for audiences watching us, too. This is nice because, finally, you can focus on your job in the proper way and do not feel like you are fighting for your position.”