Croatian Sports

Distinguished Croatian alpinist Stipe Božić (Split) climbed Mount Everest twice, the first time in 1979. He was the second European to do so after Messner. See Božić's beautiful photos at Fotoklub Split. The Croatian Alpine Association (Hrvatski planinarski savez) is among the oldest in the world: it was founded in 1874, the same year as in France.

Let us mention in passing that the oldest novel in the world about mountains is Planine (Mountains), written in Croatian by Petar Zoranić in 1536 and printed in Venice in 1569. It is also the oldest Croatian novel. Petar Zoranić, outstanding Croatian Renaissance writer, was born in Zadar in 1508.

Four Croatian female alpinists climbed on Mt Everest (8850 m) in 2009, among them two sisters Darija and Iris Bostjančić, besides Milena Šijan and Ena Vrbek. It was for the first time that two sisters climbed on the top of Himalayas.

It was the 2nd Female Croatian Expedition, led by Darko Berljak, which consisted of 11 girls. The first expedition was successfuly organized in 2007 on Cho Oyu (8201 m), 35 km west of Mt. Everest.

Bill Belichick & Nick Saban, two Croatians - Coaches in the NFL (National Football League, USA), are very successful with their teams playing american football. Let us cite Bill Belichick: "...I think it just makes this division, which is already very tough, even that much tougher. You know, two Croatians in the division, Joe, that's not something you see everyday. [Laughter]..." (from an interview given to Joe Benigno and Sid Rosenberg WFAN, sports Radio 66AM New York, January 5, 2005).

Articles by Vedran Joseph Nazor, Croatian Chronicle, USA:

• Bill Belichick (Bilicic), 3 time super bowl coach
• Croatian Nick Saban, Coach of the Year – Led LSU to NCAA Football Championship
• David Diehl, #66 New York Giants

David-Diehl - Croatian among Giants - In NFC Championship 2008

David Diehl Super Bowl winner in 2012, pride of Croatia and Croatians around the world

Gary Gabelich, USA Croat (his parents are from the city of Split), has won the world record with his automobile "Blue Flame" in 1970, achieving the speed of 622.4 miles/h (i.e., more than 1000 km/h). Even more interesting is that this record was unbeaten for as long as 13 years, see History for kids, Utah, USA. In 1985 the Long Beach City Council named a park in his memory, Gabelich Park (near San Pedro and Los Angeles).

Famous Croatian baseball players in the USA:

• Roger Maris (1934-1985), major league baseball player, was born in Hibbing, Minnesota the son of first generation Croatian Americans. Roger Maris (Maras) had a baseball record in the USA which was unbeaten for as long as 27 years. See Roger Maris Museum and www.croatia.org.
• Mickey Lolich

George Mikan (1924-2005), born in a Croatian family in Illinois (his ancesotrs are from Vivodina near Karlovac, in the region of Zumberak), was the best basketball player in the USA in 1944. He was the first dominant "big man" in NBA, known as the "Gentle Giant" (208 cm, or 6 feet 10 inches). He was also one of the most effective scorers of his time, averaging 22.6 points per game over his nine years long professional career, with the then record of 11,764 points. The Associated Press voted Mikan the greatest basketball player of the first half of the 20th century. When Mikan's LA Lakers came to Madison Square Garden, the marquee simply advertized "Tonight George Mikan versus the Knicks!". How basketball was played at that time, is indicated by the following: he lost four teeth (in his first professional game), had two broken legs, three broken fingers, broken wrist, broken nose and dozens of stitches. Even some NBA rules have been changed because of his superiority. George Mikan was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1996 (on the occasion of 50 years of NBA), played four NBA all-star games, and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. For additional information see the Vladimir Novak web page.

Regarding collective sports basketball is very popular. Important role for its development in Croatia had Mirko Novosel, both as a basketball trainer and indefatigable organizer. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, USA, in 2007.

The best Croatian basketball players were

• Krešimir Ćosić (1948-1995; he spent last years of his life in the USA as the Croatian diplomat); became only the third international player ever elected to the world's Basketball Hall of Fame (in 1996)s located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace of basketball. See also his biography at KK Zadar.
  
  

  Monument of K. Ćosić in Zadar

  
  
• Dražen Petrović (you can see his beautiful monument in the Olympic park in Lausanne, Switzerland), elected the world's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. He was very popular throughout Europe. Dražen Petrović:

  

  

• Toni Kukoč, inducted to the FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017, and to the NBA Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021

  

  

• Dino Radja, inducted to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

  

Rudy Tomjanovich, NBA player and coach of Houston Rockets, twice NBA champion was inducted to Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.

Nikola Dragaš, three times world champion in 9 pin bowling

Nikola Dragaš was three times indidvidual world champion in 9 pin bowling: in Split 1972, Eppelheim 1974 and in Vienna 1976. In 1988 he was the world champion in pairs with Boris Urbanc. He is one of the greatest bowling players in history. During the Serbian 1991-1995 aggression on Croatia he was active in humanitarian aid.

Since 2003 Nikola Dragaš leads the movement "With bowling against smoking".

Jimmy Lyggett (1897-1955) was an American boxer and trainer of Croatian boxing clubs in Zagreb, as well as of Croatian boxing national team from 1939 to 1945. At the age of 20, he won the United States Championship for professional Black boxers, while the next year he won the Colored Championship of the World (light heavyweight). While he lived in Vienna, Austria, he met a woman of Croat descent, Roza, whom he married. The couple moved to Zagreb, Croatia in the early 1930s. There, he opened his boxing school in Ilica street. At the age of 33, he ended his career as boxer. He trained many young boxers in several boxing clubs in Zagreb, starting with boxing club Croatia, and later with clubs Herkules, Makabi and Radnik. After a while, he became a friend with a neighboring tavern owner. He gave him his warehouse in Preradovićeva as a training hall.

Jimmy Lyggett as a trainer of Croatian boxers in Zagreb. Source of the photo.

When the Independent State of Croatia was formed, its Minister of Sports, Miško Zebić talked Lyggett into training the Croatian national boxing team. He prepared the Croatian team for the cancelled 1940 Olympics. Despite his race, Lyggett was not interfered with by the Axis allied government of Croatia.

Jimmy Lyggett on the right and Mijo Drvarić in the middle, champion of Croatia and ex Yu (in 1940).

Lyggett was an anti-Communist. Before the end of the war, his brother invited him to return to the US. Finally he accepted the invitation and convinced his wife to move to the US. In 1945, they set off for the US via Italy. They waited for months the ship that would take them to United States. His wife got ill and died in Milan. Broken, Lyggett returned to America alone. His death place and death date are unclear. Some sources say that he died in US in 1955. In Croatia, among his friends he had a nickname "glista" (worm). Source of this text and more information at Wikipedia (and in Croatian). A film about Jimmy Lyggetty has been shot by Oktavijan Miletić. See 2 min. video about Lyggett in Croatia. Many thanks to Mr Tomislav Nürnberger, Zagreb, for his kind information about Jimmy Lyggett.

We should remember also Fritzie Zivic (originally Zivchich, 1913-1984), known as The Croat Comet, famous welterweight boxer in the USA, who had 230 professional matches. In 1940 he won the title of the champion of the world having defeated "unbeatable" Henry Armstrong. Their rematch held in Madison Square Garden in 1941, where Fritzie managed to defend his title, was visited by 23,190 people (and 5,000 fans were reportedly denied access). This remains all-time highest Garden record for attendance. In 1993 entered the "International Boxing Hall of Fame". For additional information see the Vladimir Novak web page.

Fritzie Zivic, New World Welterweight Champion, The Ring, January 1941,
source Vladimir Novak

In 1941 Nikola Tesla, distinugished Croatian-American inventor, invited Fritzie Zivic to the lunch in New York,
as well as his brothers, after one of his successful defences of the title of the welter-weight world champion.
Source newsinteractive.post-gazette.com, from the photo archives of the Pittsuburgh Post-Gazette.
From left to right: Joe Zivic, Fritzie Zivic, Nikola Tesla, Jack Zivic, Pete Zivic i Eddie Zivic.
Their father, Josip Živčić, was born in Bosiljevo in Croatia.

The Croat Comet Fritzie Zivic (originally Živčić) and Nikola Tesla
Fritzie Zivic was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993.

Nikola Tesla (2nd from the left) with three of the Zivic brothers: Eddie, Pete and Fritzi (on the right). Source.

Several books were written about his life (below is the front page of one of them, Timpav: CHAMP - Fritzie Zivcic - The life and time of the Croat Comet. His four brothers were all boxers, and two of them, Pete and Jack Zivic, represented the USA at the 1920 Olympic Games at Antwerpen, Belgium. Jack won the Gold medal for the USA in featherweight category.

Fritzie Zivic, the Croat Comet, with his family in 1946.

Another well known name is George Chuvalo (Jure Cuvalo), Canadian Croat, heavy-weight champion of Canada for more than two decades (from 1958 to 1979), for as many as seventeen years among the Top Ten professional boxers in the world, and never knockouted. He had matches among others with Floyd Patterson, Mohammad Ali (twice, both times for the title of the world champion), Joe Frazier, and George Foreman. His professional record is impressive: 79 wins (70 by knockouts), 15 loses, and 2 draws.

Except being a world class boxer, Chuvalo is known in Canada and in the USA as Anti-Drug Crusader. This engagement came as a result of a personal tragedy: he lost his two sons due to drug overdose, the third one committed suicide, and his wife committed suicide after that. Having remarried, he now tours Canada and the USA, accompanied with his remaining son Steven, giving lectures for pupils, students and parents, and trying to warn people about the danger of drugs. He visited more than 300 schools, appeared in numerous movies, tv shows, and is recipient of "Order of Canada" from Canadian government for his hard work and dedication to Canada's youth. Please, do not miss to visit

The above exceptionally humanist and deeply moving web site obtained the Golden Web Award for 2001 by the International Association of Web Masters & Designers. In 2009 George Chuvalo visited the town of Ljubuski in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where his parents Stipe and Kate were born, and delivered an antidrug lecture for youngsters.

A light heavy-weight boxer Mate Parlov (1948-2008) was was Olympic champion in Munich, Germany, in 1972, inaugural World champion in 1974 in Havana, Cuba, twice European champion (1971 and 1973). In 1974 he started his professional boxing career. and professional semi heavy-weight professional European champion in 1976, and professional World champion (WBC) in 1978. In his amateur career he had 310 matches with 13 defeats, while in 29 professional matches he had only 3 defeats.

Ivo Prebeg, a professional heavy-weight boxer, was the European champion in 1969. Marijan Beneš was a professional European boxing champion in 1979 (welter-weight category).

Željko Mavrović won the title of European heavy-weight boxing champion in 1995. He also had a match with Lennox Lewis.

In 2003 Stipe Drviš (Drews) won the title of European semi-weight boxing champion. In 2007 he became the light heavyweight WBA champion of the world.

Filip Hrgovic became super heavyweight boxing champion of Europe in 2015. He was the Junior boxing  heavyweight champion of the world in 2010.

A world-wide reputation in thai boxing had Branko Cikatić from Split, winner of many international tournaments, including the grand 1994 K-1 Tokyo tournament (see an interesting Brazilian video about him). Also very successful in martial arts is Stefan Leko.

Great successes in martial arts has Mirko Filipovic, known as Mirko Cro Cop: K-1 Grand Prix '99 Finalist, I.K.B.F World Heavyweight Full Contact Champion, K-1 WORLD GP 2000 in Fukuoka Second Champion, winner of the 2006 PRIDE competition in Tokyo.

Stipe Miocic became the UFC World Heavyweight Champion in 2016.

Marko Martinjak, Super Cruiserweight & Bridgerweight Champion in BKB (bare knuckle boxing).

The first mention of playing chess in Croatia dates from 14th century, more precisely, from 1385 in the city of Zadar. Thomas Hyde, an English orientalist from 17th century, travelled through Croatia, and mentioned that the correspondence chess had been played between Croatian and Venetian merchants in 1650, more precisely, beween the Dubrovnik and Venetian merchants. It is the oldest mention of the correspondence chess in history. This fact can be found in his book "De ludis orientalibus" (On Eastern Games), published in Latin in 1694.

In Croatia there are 162 registered players of correspondence chess (30 of them active). Until the advent of computers, chess moves were sent by snail mail, and sometimes one had to wait for a few months for a single move. It is not surprising that such a game could last for several years. Since 1990s the speed of the correspondence chess has been revolutionarized due to the possibilities of electronic communication, and its duration is comparable to that of the "usual" chess game. Information by the courtesy of dr. Zvonko Krecak, Croatian physicist, who is the president of the Croatian Correspondence Chess Association (Hrvatska udruga dopisnog saha) since 1987 (continuously till 2010 when these lines are written).

Ognjen Cvitan, Croatian chess grandmaster, earned the International Master title by winning the 1981 World Junior Championship for competitors under the age of 20.

In Croatia there is a Chess Street, the only one in the world. Aleksandar Lysenko, Russian international chess master, is the author of an article "In the Chess Street" published by the well known Russian chess journal "64 Chess Survey", Moscow 1996. The article deals with the Chess Club in the Chess Street in the town of Ravna Gora in Croatia. He wrote: "It is good that such a street exists, but it is a pity that the street is not in Russia."

Valentina Golubenko and Ivan Šarić won the titles of world youth chess champions for 2008 in the category up to 18 years, at the competition organized in Vietnam. With two gold medals and one bronze, Croatia was ranked third at the World Competition, after India and Vietnam, and before China, Russia, USA, Germany etc.

In 2018, he won the European Individual Chess Championship, and became the second player from Croatia who managed to achieve this title after Zdenko Kožul, who has won it in 2006. Here, the notion of "European" does not mean just EU, but includes GB, Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russian Federation, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Israel!

During the 2014 Chess Olympiad, he managed to defeat Magnus Carlsen.

Lit. Ivan Šarić (Wikipedia)

We feel it necessary to mention Gari Kasparov, a famous Russian chess player, former champion of the world. He played as a member of chess teams of Vukovar (in exile from 1991 to 1998) and Sarajevo. Upon his request, Gari Kasparov has been granted Croatian citizenship in February 2014.

Since 1998. Croatia had outstanding results in crossbow competitions, especially for ladies. One of the best competitors of the world for ladies is Branka Pereglin. She was:

• eight times European champion: in 1995 (Portugal), 1997 (Portugal), 1999 (Croatia), 2001 (Czechia), 2005 (Holland), 2007 (Russia) at outdoor competitions, and in 2003 (Belgium) and 2005 (Russia) at indoor competitions on 18 meters,
• from 1995 to 2007 she participated on all European championships, and won gold medals on all of them!
• four times world champion: in 1996 (Taiwan), 1998 (Hungary), 2002 (Croatia), in 2004 (Czechia), and world vicechampion of the world in 2000 (New Zealand) and 2006 (Austria). She set seventeen (17) world records, and equalled one.

It is amazing that in 2004, during the European Crossbow Championship in Czechia, the Croatian female team (Branka Pereglin, Nikolina Krivanek, and Sanja Komar) surpassed the best male team (France) by 85 points!

Sandra Perković, discus thrower, was only at the age of 19 when she won gold medal at the European Athletics Championships Barcelona 2010. She became the youngest ever winner of discus throw competition among woman. In 2012, during the Summer Olympic Games in London, she won Olympic women's discus title with a Croatian national record throw of 69.11m, in front of girls from Russia and China. In the 2012 European Championships in Helsinki she won gold medal. In 2013 she becam the world champion in discus throw, during the World Attheltics Championship in Moscow.

In 2014 she won the title of European champion in discus throwing in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2014. It was her THIRD consecutive title of European champion, and this fact is unique for this sport. Her winning throw was more than 71 meters. Three of her other attempts at the competition would also have sufficed for the gold medal. The winner of the silver medal representing France had more than 5m weaker result, which shows the dominance of Sandra Perković in this sport. This is one of the greatest achievements in the history of Croatian sports. 

Croatia won record 6 medals at the 2012 Olympic games in London, among them 3 golds:

• Sandra Perković won gold medal in discus throwing,
• Giovanni Černogoraz won gold medal in trap, and
• Croatian waterpolo team won gold medal, winning all the matches.

Sandra Perković won olympic gold medal in discus throw at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio

Martin Marković became the second Croatian male athlete to win a world junior title (2014) and the first one in 12 years with a world-junior-leading 66.94m in the discus final at Hayward Field. It was his first  global medal after four appearances in World Youth and World Junior Championships finals. Markovic’s gold was Croatia’s second medal in Eugene after Sara Vlašić took the silver in the javelin.

Croatian quad scull won silver medal, Lucija Zaninović won bronze medal in tae-kwon-do, handball team also won bronze medal. An unofficial gold medal went to Antonija Mišura, see why.

Helen Crlenkovich (1921-1955) was one of the most successful athletes in America and the world on the three-meter springboard and the ten-meter platform. She was an American-born Croatian lovingly known as "Klinky." Her best sports years began in the late 1930's. She not only became the best American, but also the world springboard and platform diving champion. She was the first female to do a full-twisting 1 1/2 somersault and several other dives that were heretofore only achieved by men. Helen was chosen to represent America in the 1940 Olympic Games. All concerned felt that Helen would achieve two gold medals as a minimum. However, because of the onset of the Second World War, the games were cancelled. She was also honored by being inducted into the Helms Foundation Diving Hall of Fame in California. In September 2008, Helen received post-mortem recognition by the World Acrobatic Congress held in Las Vegas for her life achievements in swimming and diving. She died very young out of cancer. Her both parents are from Croatia: mother Anka Tomin is from Petrijevci, and father Adam from Banicevac. (Text by dr. Ante Chuvalo, Chicago).

An interesting note as regards Helen is the fact that her trainer, Phil Patterson, insistently urged this young Croatian-American woman to change her name to something that is "more suitable." He told Helen that with a name like Crlenkovich, she will not achieve any hoped-for success. Nonetheless, Helen, just as insistently, rejected his suggestion because she was proud of her Croatian name and heritage. This fact speaks volumes as to the strength of her character.

Val and Sandra Bezić, brother and sister, are famous Canadian figure skating pair. They were champions of Canada in the period of 1970-1974, and representatives of Canada in the Winter Olympic Games, Munich, 1972 (placed ninth). Sandra Bezic is known as one of the best figure skating choreographers in the world. For many years, Bezic served as producer, director, and choreographer of the touring show Stars on Ice. Sandra Bezic also worked on highly acclaimed "Carmen on Ice." She designed programs for Olympic champions Brian Boitano and Kristi Yamaguchi, and wrote the book The Passion to Skate, which was made into a documentary. Bezic also choreographed the routines of figure skaters Kurt Browning, Josée Chouinard, and Katarina Witt for 1994 Olympics.

In 1880, local Croatian young men began to play football in Županja, a small Croatian town near Danube river. Since there were only nine of the Englishmen who came to Croatia several years before, they invited local boys to join them. In 1914, professional coaches from England came to Croatia. James Donelly and Arthur Gaskhell, who were the coaches in "Gradjanski" club in Zagreb that in 1936 defeated famous Liverpool with the result of 5:1, are certainly worth mentioning.

The oldest Croatian soccer club is Bačka, founded in Subotica in Bačka in 1901, playing in the then Croatian league. It is also the oldest soccer club in this part of Europe.

Bacska, i.e., Bačka football club in Subotica, founded in 1901.
As we can see, it was decorated by Croatian Coat of Arms.
This photo is appearing on the cover page of [Dražen Prčić] and on nogomet.lzmk.hr.

The first international football (soccer) match where Croatia participated with its national name had been held in 1907 (with Czechia). The Croatian Sporting Union was founded in Zagreb in 1909. In 1911 the Croatian representation participated under its flag (and with its national name) on the European championship in Torino. In 1912 Franjo Gregl was the European champion in bicycling.

Croatian soccer international matches in 1940 with Switzerland and in 1990 with the USA

No doubt, the greatest success achieved by Croatian soccer is the third place at 1998 World Championship (Coup du Monde) held in France. The excellent team of Holland was defeated by 2:1 in the match in Paris. Thus Croatian team became the greatest surprise of the Championship. Our national team has been led by Miroslav Ćiro Blažević (Bosnian Croat born in the town of Travnik).

Many Croatian sportsmen, trainers and others are well known throughout Europe. As an example, let us take the city of Sevilla in Spain only (1995):

• Davor Šuker played soccer for "Sevilla",
• Robert Jarni for "Betis",
• Aco Petrović (brother of Dražen Petrović) was a trainer of a basketball club in Sevilla and, last but not least,
• Vjekoslav Šutej conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Sevilla from 1990 to 1996 (better known as conductor of annual Christmas concerts in Vienna).

In 2018, Croatian achieved its greatest success in football - silver medal at the FIFA World Cup (orgnaized in the Russian Federation), surpassing the 1998 success of winning bronze medal at the FIFA World Cup (organized in France). We recall the names of Davor Šuker, Zvonimir Boban and Slaven Bilić from 1998, and the names of Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić and Dejan Lovren in 2018. See here:

Croatia 2 - 1 England at the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Moscow

Croatia 2 (4) - Russian Federation 2 (3) at the FIFA World Cup 2018

Croatia 1 (3) - 1 (2) Denmark at the FIFA World Cup 2018

Luka Modrić, winner of the Golden Ball for 2018.

Croatia winning bronze medal at the 2022 Footaball World Championship in Qatar

In 2007 Croatian football team led by Slaven Bilić defeated England in London in a qualifying match for Euro 2008, in front of 88,000 spectators. According to English media, it was the greatest display from a visiting nation to Wembley in modern times. Also, it was the first time a country had scored three against England in a competitive game at the venue since 1972. This victory was crucial for the Russian Federation to qualify for Euro 2008, see Thank You Croatia! Spasibo Horvatiya!

Soccer is of course the most widespread sport. An excellent soccer club in Croatia is Hajduk (from the city of Split), founded in 1911 (by Croatian students in the Prague, Czechia, in the well known beerhouse "U Fleku") three times quarter-finalist of the European League of Champions (last time in 1995) and once a semi-finalist of the UEFA cup.

Hajduk is the only soccer team in the world which has its own operetta (Kraljica lopte, i.e., Queen of the Ball), already since 1926. It has been composed by Ivo Tijardovic, distinguished Croatian composer.

Alen Bokšić - "Fantastic player, fast, physically strong and technically gifted; I've always considered him as one of the best strikers in Europe" (Bryan Robson).

A traditional 36th tournament of Crotian soccer union in Canada and the USA in 1999 included the following clubs with indicative names:

CROATIA Florida, CROATIA Toronto, HRVAT St. Catharines, CROATIA New York, Croatia Mississauga, CROATIA Windsor, CROATIA Detroit, DALMACIJA Streetsville, CROATIA Norval, NERETVA Mississauga, CROATIA Cleveland, ADRIA Subrury, LIVNO Oakville, CROATIA Hamilton, ADRIA Oshawa, CROATIA London, CROATIA S.S. Marie, HRVAT Kitchener, VELEBIT Oakville, HRVATSKI Orlovi Milwaukee, HRVAT (ZRINSKI) Chicago, CBP JADRAN Chicago, JADRAN Ottawa, KARLOVAC Mississauga, ZAGREB Toronto. HRVAT Kitchener has won the the first place. Believe it or not, there are more than 100 (hundred) soccer clubs outside of Croatia, throughout the world, bearing the name of Croatia.

Mr. Charles Perkins (1936-2000) was the first Aborigin in the history of Australia who earned the university diploma. Later he became the political leader of Aborigins. It is worth knowing that as a young man he played soccer for the Adelaide Croatia Soccer Club since 1958. In his autobiography he reflected with fondness on his friendships with Adelaide Croats and other immigrants he met through the club.

It is little known that Diego Maradona, Argentinean soccer player, had a great-grandmother which was a Dalmatian Croat. One of his daughters bears the unique name - Dalma! I owe this information to the King of Dolls.

Tomas Felipe "Trinche" Carlovich, of Croatian origin, is considered to be one of the greatest Argentinean football players. More information: info1, info2, info3, info4.

Bronze medal for Croatia during the European Futsal Championship 2026, defeating France in play-off. The competition includes not only the countries of EU, but also many other.

Kristijan Curavić set a new world record in diving under ice (2004). He reached a depth of more than 50 meters under ice (1.4 m thick) in Lake Djupvatnet (1100 m above sea level) in the Northeastern part of Norway, wearing only a mask, wetsuit and monofin.

In 2005 he improved his own record reaching an amazing depth of 51.2 m in 1.32 min., at the temperature of air of -22 degrees C, and water temperature of -3 degrees C, while the ice was 2m thick. After this exploit (which is not recognized by international diving organizations due to extreme life danger), Kristijan said: "This is a great event for me and for Croatia". For more information see www.curavic.org.

In 2007 Karla Fabrio, a Croatian representative, set up a world record in diving on breath for women (discipline Jump Blue), on the World Championship held in Bari, Italy, attaining 130 m. In this way she equalled her own world record attained earliear the same year in Croatia, on the island of Vis.

Karla Fabrio Čubrić, 2012 in Zagreb, 200 m.

Karla Fabrio Čubrić, 2012 in Zagreb

Goran Čolak Croatian holder of amazing freediving WR 273 m and of the Guinness WR 23min breath hold

Valentina Cafolla of Croatia smashes two under-ice freediving records in 2024.

In 1898, at the age of 27, Croatian explorer Mirko Seljan walked 2800 km from St. Petersburg (Russia) to Paris (France), in just 110 days. In this way, he earned the title Champion Globetrotter. However, the greatest Croatian globetrotter (and probably of entire History) was Josip (Joe, Joseph) Mikulec.

Picture in possession of Dr. Ante Cuvalo, Chicago

A detail on his breast: Croatian Coat of Arms

Croatian adventurer Josip (Joseph) Mikulec set out to circumnavigate the globe on foot in the span of five years. With the start of this journey he became a perpetual wanderer. Mostly hiking, he traveled the world some 28 years and achieved a degree of fame for having collected more than 30,000 autographs of world-famous people. He was also called hyperpedestrian.

Another Croatian hyperpedestrian was Mate Šimunović (visiting about 70 countries), about who a very interesting monograph was published (in Croatian), based on his preserved diary:

• Stipe Božić i Drago Glamuzina (eds.): Mate Šimunović Ja, Mate Svjetski (Summary), Zagreb 2013. Video
  

Augustin Jaromir Löffler (1832-1915), born in Czechia, the author of the first
gymnastics textbook in Croatia, published in Zagreb in 1879.

The first gymnastics textbook in Croatian language was published in Zagreb, 1879, by Augustin Löffler (entitled Gimnastika za učitelje pučkih učiona i učiteljske pripravnike, 154 pp). Born in Czechia in 1832 (in Jindřichův Hradec), he arrived to Rakovac (now a part of the city of Karlovac) in 1870. He was one of the teachers of Nikola Tesla during his schooling in Croatia, at the Higher Real School in Rakovac (now Gymnasium in Karlovac). For more information about Augustin Löffler, see Ivica Vuković i Anđa Valent: Autori matematičkih rasprava u izvješćima rakovačke realke, Prirodoslovlje 2016, str. 89-110.

Augustin Löffler: Gimnastika za učitelje pučkih učiona i učiteljske pripravnike, Zagreb 1879
The first gymnastics textbook in Croatian language.

Students of Zagreb University founded the first sports society in Zagreb called "HAŠK" (Hrvatski Športski Akademski Klub - the Croatian Academic Sports Club), already in 1903. It is little known that our eminent chemist and recipient of the Nobel Price for chemistry in 1975, Vladimir Prelog, was a "HAŠK" athlete and the first Croatian champion in the modern pentathlon in 1923!

Nikola Matković (1864-1946), living in Subotica, was a very successful athlete in the then Austria-Hungary. When the Subotica Gymnastic Society (Subotičko gimnasticko drustvo) competed in Belgrade in 1900, they won the first prizes in all disciplines. Furthermore, the newspapers reported that "...the Subotica sportsmen demonstrated in Belgrade the new game called Football, until then unknown in that city..." One of Matković's pupils was Đuro Stantić, the world champion in walking on 75 km, in Berlin 1905.
See Ante Zomborović: Nikola Matković prvi Hrvat-Bunjevac školovani učitelj tjelesnog odgoja, Subotička Danica (nova), Kalendar za 2004, Subotica 2003, pp 192-194. Beginnings of soccer in Croatia by Croatian Football Federation.

The Documentary film "Toronto Croatia - Great Croatian Story...", from Screenwriter Hrvoje Hitrec, Director Jakov Sedlar and Producer Josip Pavičić captures and for the first time presents the great and unrepeatable Historical documentation. All important witnesses of these Historical accomplishments of Eusebio, Grnja, Bradvić, Bilić, Kenfelja, Ante Pavlović, Šimunić, Šuker, Niko Kovač, as well as Robert Iarusci, Bruce Thomas, and Ante Pavelić, testify to this unified and unique team. In 1976 Toronto Croatia won the Continental Championship with as many as 20 consecutive wins and became the champion of the North American League.

Filip Ude won silver medal in pommel horse at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. It was the first gymnastics medal for Croatia on Olympic Games.

Filip Ude in 2008 (video)

Jana Košćak won the U20 heptathlon gold medal in Lima at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 2024
World Athletics. Interview (in English, by Hannah England); interview (in Croatian, by Dubravko Šimenc), both in 2023.

Tin Srbić won silver medal for Croatia in gymnastics horzontal bar in Tokyo 2021.

Tin Srbić. Photo by Croatian Olympic Committee.

Tin SRBIĆ (Croatia) - 2023 Artistic European Champion, high bar, in Antalya (Turkey). Interviews in English and in Croatian.

In 2025, again in Antalya, Tin Srbić became World Champion (high bar) astics World Cup, 2025.

The following photo is one of the most amazing in the history of Croatian sport (representing flags of Croatia, China, and Japan):

Tin Srbić of Croatia winning the gold medal in gymnastics, high bar, Antalya Wolrd Cup, 2025.
2025 Antalya World Cup High Bar Medal Ceremony.
This is one of the greatest achievements in the history of Croatian sports.

Our basketball, water polo and handball teams were in some periods among the best teams in the world. They won many gold medals on the Olympic and World championships. Our water polo team won silver medal at the Olympic games in Atlanta, 1996 (gold medal for ex-YU at the Olympics in Ciudad de Mexico in 1968, the team had 12 players, out of them 8 were Croats). The Croatian handball team won

• the olympic gold medal in Atlanta in 1996, under leadership of Velimir Kljaić,
• gold medal at the World Championship held in Portugal in 2003, under the baton of Lino Červar
• the olympic gold medal in Athens in 2004 with perfect score, without any lost game, under the leadership of Lino Červar (for the first time in the history of this sport the same national team bears the titles of both Olympic and World champions).
• silver medal at 2020 European Handball Championship, under the baton of Lino Červar
  

In 2004, when Croatia won the second Olympic handball title in Athens (after the first one in 1996, Atlanta), Ivano Balić was proclaimed the best handball player of the world for 2003 by International Handball Federation.

At the 2009 World Handball Championship organized in Zagreb Croatia won silver medal, which was another great success our team. World Cups History.

In 2009 Croatia became the new world champion at Men's Youth World Championship in Tunisia. In 2010 Croatia handball team won silver medal. It is interesting that in the period of 2000-2010 Croatian team was 9 times in the finals of the European championships. No other country in Europe had such a continuous series of top results.

Nenad Zvonarek former selector of Chinese handball representation

Blanka Vlašić, high-jumper, with her record jump of 2.07 (the second best in history, 2007), was Junior World Champion twice (Santiago, Chile, in 2000; Kingston, Jamaica, in 2002), and champion of XIVth Mediterranean Games in Tunisia, 2001. In 2007 she won the gold medal in Japan at the World Championship in Athletics, Osaka 2007. This is the first gold medal for Croatia in World Championships in Athletics, and one of the greatest successes in the history of Croatian sport. In 2008, at the Bejing Olympic Games, Blanka had another great international success: she won silver medal. Before that she had as many as 34 consecutive wins at international competitions in the course of 14 months.

Click on the photo to see the movie (source docteur-es-sport.fr, France):

... avec commentaire en français (cliquer sur l'image)
Blanka Vlašić, la nouvelle reine du saut en hauteur, Osaka 2007

Blanka Vlašić won the title of the champion of the world in Berlin 2009 for the second time after Osaka 2007. In 2009 she reached the height of 208 cm at the Hanžeković Memorial Athelic Competition in Croatia's capital Zagreb, which was the second best result in the history of high jumping for women.

In 2010 in Doha, capital of Dakar, Blanka Vlašić won her fourth consecutive gold medal at World Cahmpionships, as the first female competitor in history.

Blanka Vlašić was proclaimed the best female athlete in the world for 2010.

Croatia has no tradition in hockey. However, one of the greatest hockey players of today is Joe Sakic, Canadian Croat. His both parents are from Croatia (his father is from Imotski, and mother from Lika). Joe contributed greatly to the final victory of Canadian national team at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games held in Salt Lake City.

Sinjska alka (The Sinj Alka) is a competition to the memory of the legendary 1715 victory over the Turks, where the town of Sinj near Split has been saved. According to the legend, the victory was attained due to the help of the Lady of Sinj (Gospa Sinjska). The aim of the competition, organized August 15th each year since 1715, is to pierce the ALKA with a spear, riding a horse at full speed (45 km/h). The alka is hanged on the rope at the hight of 3,22 m.

Horses are very popular in various parts of Croatia, especially in the north (in Slavonia). The Đakovo stud existed already in 1506, and is among the oldest in Europe. It was visited by Queen Elisabeth II, Prince Philip, and Princess Margaret in 1972.

The town of Đakovo was occupied by the Turks in the period of 1536-1667, and the stud was renewed in 1706. In 1806 it was moved to the nearby Ivandvor, where it is also today.

Also very famous were the Lipik Lipizzaners, which was the largest stud in Croatia until the Greater Serbian 1991-1995 aggression on Croatia.

The Lipik Orphanage and colonel Mark Cook

More about horses... Mr Tony Santic (tuna farmer), Australian Croat born on the beautiful Croatian island of Lastovo, is the owner of a famous mare Makybe Diva. This strange name is an acronym, derived from the names of five ladies employed at Mr Santic: Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane and Vanessa. In 2005 Makybe Diva became the first horse in Australasian racing history to claim three Melbourne Cups and a Cox Plate.

Horses in Croatian Art

Tajana Raukar: GRACEFUL PREDATORS
(world champion medallist in Ice carving)
World Championship Alaska 2003

Antonia Balek won two gold medals for Croatia at the 2008 Paraolympic Games in China. The first gold medal has been won in women's javelin, and the second in women's Shot Put, both with new world records. The competition was held in the National Stadium known as Bird's Nest in front of 85,000 spectators. Antonia survived a deep coma which lasted for 3 years. Photos by Getty Images.

Mikela Ristoski is Paraolympic champion in triple long jump in Rio 2016, as well as the 2015 world champion in para-triple long jump..

Branimir Budetić celebrates with his mother after finishing second during the final of the men's javelin F11-12 classification event at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games in Beijing on September 10, 2008. Photos by Getty Images.

Sara Kolak of Croatia wins gold in javelin throw at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio

Barbara Matić won gold medal in judo (under 70 kg) at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
Source of the photo: International Judo Federation (IJF).

Source of the photo: IJF. Meet the champion: Barbara Matić

Brigita Matić won gold medal at the European Championship in Judo in 2012.

Several outstanding results in karate had Junior Levevre, a Belgian born Flemish, who fought under the Croatian flag. He won three european gold medals and one world's gold (world champion in München, Germany in 2000, in the category to 70 kg).

Sveto Deković is distinguished Croatian sportsman (karate, judo, jiu jitsu) of international reputation (European Kyokushin karate champion 2001), living in Tivat in Boka kotorska, Montenegro.

"Croatian Falcon" sports club in Budva (Boka kotorska), 1914

Ana Lenard was European karate champion for 2014 in Tampere in Finland.

Nikolina Šustić Stanković of Croatia ultramarathon world champion in 2018 (100 km!).

Werner Ilić and Martin Cruickshank two Croatian defenders paddled across the Atlantic in 2022

International Boat Race in Metković

Sandra Paović was the 2015 world para-tennis champion of the world and Paraolympic gold medallist in Rio 2016. (An amazing achievement, in view of the dominance of Asian players in ping-pong.)

Anđela Mužinić Vincetić, Europan para-ping-pong champion in Sheffield 2023 (above),
and Olympic para-ping-pong champion in Paris 2024 (below). Photos by Croatian Paralympic Committee.

Anđela Mužinić Vincetić was the 2024 Olympic para-tennis champion in Paris. In 2023, she became the European para-tennis champion in Sheffield, England. (As in the case of Sandra Paović, this an amazing achievement, in view of the dominance of Asian players in ping-pong.) Hats off to Mirela Šikoronja, a trainer of both players.

See also Brlek on this web-page.

The famed scientist (biologist) and table tennis player, Professor Žarko Dolinar (1920-2003), who captured eight gold medals at world championship competitions. Dr. Dolinar still holds an unusual world record. He is the only athlete in the world who was a world champion as well as a doctor of science. He was former World Doubles Champion and had a prestigious position of ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) Sports Science Committee head. It is interesting that he taught John Lennon to play table tennis (information by Nenad Bach). In China he was invited to have dinner with president Mao Tse Tung, together with R. Nixon, president of the USA (information by Nenad Bach). Except of being university professor in Zagreb and in Basel, he also had the title of one of Croatian Righteous among the nations.

The above lines are based on Sports in Zagreb.

See also Sandra Paović, para-tennis champion (on this web page).

Among the most outstanding Croatian sportsmen was Dragutin Šurbek (table tennis), who had won hundreds of tournaments, from Tokyo and Beijing to Zagreb (37 medals from european and world championships!). In China he is known under the nickname Surbeka, treated as table tennis God there, and in Croatia as Surba.

History of Croatian Table tennis (in Croatian).

Antun Stipančić, often called "the golden left hand of Croatian sport", was one of the greatest Croatian table tennis players. In 1965, at the age of 16, he defeated the then European champion Kjell Johanson by 24:22 in the fifth set, winning Johanson's two match balls. In men doubles he was gold medalist during the European Championships organized in Lyon 1968 with Vecko and in Moscow 1970 with Dragutin Šurbek. In 1975 he won the silver medal at the World Championship in Kolkota in singles and in the doubles - the gold medal with Dragutin Šurbek at the World Championship in Pyongyang 1979.

Zoran Primorac won several important international table tennis tournaments: in France in 1997, in Qatar in 1998 and other. The tournaments gathered the best table tennis players of the world.

And Tamara Boroš was the best ping-pong player in the world among women of non-Chinese origin for 1998 and 1999 (ranked 13th, the first 12 places being occupied by Chinese players, as well as many places after Tamara). She is famous for her attractive offensive style.

She was the winner of the 2002 TOP 12 European ping-pong competition in Rotterdam. After this success she was placed second (!) on the world rank. She won the third place at the World Championship in Paris in 2003, which is the greatest success of Croatian (and European!) table tennis in history for women.

She also won the 2006 Europe TOP 12 competition in Copenhagen.

Tamara is the only one in Europe capable to cope with ping-pong players from Asia (China, Japan, etc.). In 2006 she has been invited to China to play table tennis in their professional league, which is the strongest one in the world. In 1991, as a young girl Tamara had to escape with her parents from what is now Serbia and Montenegro, when Greater-Serbian aggression on Croatia started. Her both parents are Hungarians. Together with Janica Kostelić, Tamara Boroš is one of the greatest Croatian sportswomen in history.

Nenad Bach is the founder of Global PingPongParkinson Movement.

• Nenad Bach and PingPongParkinson
• Ping Pong Parkinson initiative of Nenad Bach
• PingPongParkinson photo-monograph by Warren Rosenberg with Nenad Bach, illustrated by Ignasi Blanch
• ITTF Parkinson's World Championships sucessful debut in 2019
• Ping Pong Parkinson World Championship in Pula, Croatia 2022
• Symphony of Care dedicated to Nenad Bach created by BAI
• PingPongParkinson founded by Nenad Bach
• PingPongParkinson celebrating 5th anniversary 2017-2022
• PingPongParkinson World Championship 2023 Wels Austria
• Poziv na akciju Pokretom protiv Parkinsona 3p u Maksimiru Zagreb 4. listopada 2014 u 10 sati

The earliest known description of a sporting event in Croatia is from the 16th century. It reffered to the 1593 regatta of seventy four (yes, 74) wooden fishing boats called falkusa, from the harbour of the town of Komiža on the island of Vis to the islet of Palagruža. It was the oldest known boat race in Europe. Falkusa is autochthonous Croatian boat of 9m of length, with the mast of equal size, in use from 11th or 12th century until the middle of the 20th century. A crew was composed of five rowers, and the marathon covered 42 miles, for which about five to fifteen hours of continuous and exhausting rowing was necessary, depending on weather conditions.

The very start of the marathon of the armada was announced by a cannon from the Renaissance tower in the Komiža harbour early in the morning of 20th May. One can imagine the foam raised by 74 boats and 370 rows in the harbour! The description of this interesting event is kept in the Liber Comissiae in the parish of the town of Vis on the island of Vis. In 1998 falkuša was included into the UNESCO World Heritage List. See Prvi zapis o Palagurškoj regati (in Croatian), Gajeta Falkusa, Vis (in Polish), The Falkusa.

The next earliest known description of a sporting event in Croatia is from the 18th century (1764). It referred to the regatta of two fishing boats representing the cities of Split and Makarska, from an islet near Milna on the island of Brač to the Split harbour. It was the Makarska boat that triumphed!

Rowing competition in the town of Zlarin on the island of Zlarin arround 1900, near the city of Šibenik on Croatian coast.
Zlarin is also known for coral hunting and production of fantastic coral jewelry.
The nearby island of Krapanj is famous for coral and sponge hunting.

The Rowing Club Neptun (Veslački klub Neptun) in Dubrovnik was founded in 1923.
In the school year 1890/1891 the Dubrovnik Grammar School introduced rowing as an optional subject within the gymnastics programme and a ten-oar boat was used for pupils. Since 2000 the International Semper Primus Regatta of Student Eights'(the name is derived from a Latin proverb: Semper primus, simper melior - Always the first, always the best). Source Welcome to Dubrovnik, 2009, no 18, p 27.

Matija Ljubek has won a fair number of olympic medals in kayak. He is considered to be one of the greatest kayakers in the history of this sport.

Matija Ljubek (1953-2000), gold medal in single kneeling canoe, 1000 m, at the Olympic Games in Montreal 1976, gold medal in kayak, 1000 m, at the World Championship in Belgrade 1978, gold medal in single kneeling canoe at the World Championship in Nothingham 1981, gold medal in double kneeling canoe the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984, silver on 500 m, and gold medal on 10,000 m at the World Championship in Belgium (in Mechelen) 1985. Since 2001 the Award of the Croatian Olympic Committee for lifelong achievement is named after him.

Croatian eight-man boat (on the above photo) won the olympic gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. It was the first olympic gold medal in the history of the then state (ex-Yugoslavia). However, the press never reported about this great succes, since all the rowers asked for political asylum after the win and moved to Canada. Members of the team were from the rowing club Gusar from the city of Split. Many thanks to Dr. Ante Chuvalo, Chicago, for this information.

Croatian eight-man boat won the olympic bronze in Sydney in 2000, being only half a boat after the winning GB. This is one of greatest results in the history of Croatian sport in general. The crew, composed of Igor Francetić, Tihomir Franković, Tomislav Smoljanović, Nikša Skelin, Siniša Skelin, Krešimir Čuljak, Igor Boraska, Branimir Ujević (+ Silvio Petruško), trained for only four months!

Brothers Skelin (Siniša and Nikša) won gold medal at the World cup in 2002.

Tomislav Hohnjec won the gold medal of the Wild Water World Championship on the Loishach river in the German Alps in 2004. This was Croatia's first ever gold medal in a C1 wild water championship. In men's C1 team event in Garmish Partenkirchen, 2004, Croatia also won the gold medal, winning over France (silver), Germany (bronze), Czechia and the USA.

Sinković brothers win gold medals for Croatia in Double Sculls at 2016 Olympics in Rio

Damir Martin Croatian rower winning silver medal of golden glitter at 2016 Olympic Games in men's single sculls

Milan Janić won gold medal in single kneeling canoe at the World Championship in Belgrade 1978, and silver medal on 1000 m. Ivan Sabjan, a younger colleague of Matija Ljubek, was the world champion in C-1 on 10,000 m in Duisburg 1987, Germany.

Nikola Primorac, Croatian captain of City of Ragusa craft sailing from Liverpool to New York and back in 1870 (also here)

Tina Mihelić won the title of the 2013 world champion in sailing in the category of Radial Laser. This is for the first time in history that a Croatian sportswoman won such a title. The competition took place in China.

Ivan Kljaković Gašpić won silver medal at the 2008 Finn European Championship held in La Marina di Scarlino, Maremma, Tuscany, Italy, in 2008. In 2009 he won gold medal in the Finn class at the 41st Semaine Olympique Française in Hyeres.

Šime Fantela and Igor Marenić were Men's 470 World Champions at the international sailing competition organized in 2009 in Copenhagen in Denmark. They are both former junior world champions in sailing, members of the Sailing club of St. Krševan from the city of Zadar, Croatia.

Šime and Mihovil Fantela 2018 world championship in sailing in Aarhus Denmark

Croatia had excellent results in shooting sport, mainly due to shooting club Dalmacijacement in the town of Solin near Split. Among numerous excellent resuts we mention Branka Jankov who won gold medal at the 1983 European shooting championship in Dortmund, for which she was awarded as Olympic flame carrier for the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984. In 1986 Vesna Domazet became world champion st the World shooting championship in Suhl, the then Eastern Germany, and in 1987 she won gold medal at the World Cup in Munich. Ana Nazor and Marina Borzić won gold medals at the European junior shooting championship in 1994 in Wroclaw, Poland. The same year Mladenka Malenica won gold medal at the World Cup in Milano.

Snježana Pejčić won bronze medal at the 2008 Bejing Olympic Games in women's shooting (10m air rifle, 40 shots).

Josip Glasnovic wins Croatia's first gold of the 2016 Olympics (in trap shooting)

Perica Vlašić (1932-2004), a famous Croatian rower, was european champion in skiff in 1953 in Copenhagen. He could row for an unbelievable 58 strokes per minute. This brought him also the world title in skiff at the famous Henley Royal Regatta in London in 1954, and he was presented the gold cup by the English Queen in person, the patron of the regatta. It is funny that, to the amazement of other sportsmen, Vlašić came to the London town just a day before the competition, without his trainer, and without any boat. The boat was lended to him by an English trainer - God bless him.

Otto Lang (1908-2006) founded the first ski school at Mount Rainier (a National Park in the USA) in 1937 and directed Sun Valley's ski school before and after World War II. Then he launched a successful career as a Hollywood filmmaker. He was born in 1908 in the small village of Zenica, Bosnia, to an Austrian father and Croatian mother. One of his best-known pupils was Gretchen Kunigk of Tacoma, who later won an Olympic gold medal for the United States in 1948 under her married name, Gretchen Fraser. "He was an unbelievable human being," said skiing filmmaker and longtime friend Warren Miller. "He is the last of the old Austrian ski instructors; it is the absolute end of an era." Miller also called Lang a "Renaissance man."

There is nothing extraordinary that the handball team of Cannes, France, once won a match scoring altogether 24 goals. But the following is without precedent: all the goals were scored by one single person! And that person was Ante Kostelić - Gips (nicknamed Gips = plaster; guess why!), better known as father of Weltklasse skiers Janica and Ivica.

During ex-Yugoslavia, although he was one of the best handball players at that time, it had not been allowed to him to enter the representation, and that is why he turned to an individual sport of skiing as a trainer. Mr. Kostelić is not only a great expert in sports, but also a person knowledgeable on the classical literature.

Croatia is the only country in the world with no mountain above 2,000 meters (though with probably the most beautiful mountain in Europe - VELEBIT) and with world's top skier - Janica Kosteli''. She was shining in women's slalom in 1999 (being only 17 years old). Her second victory of the season put her in first place in the World Cup overall standings and strengthened her lead in the specialty standings. In her historical victory in Serre Chevalier, France, 5. December 1999, the difference between the first two was 1.78 seconds, the greatest achieved in the previous 20 years! Her ardent supporter is Goran Ivanišević. In March 2001 Janica became the World Cup Champion in alpine skiing. This is one of greatest successes in the history of Croatian sport. Upon her arrival to the Zagreb airport she obtained 1256 roses and custard slices...

In 2002, at the Winter Olympic Games held in Salt Lake City in the USA, Janica Kostelić became the first Alpine skier to win as many as four Olympic medals at a single Game: three gold medals and one silver. This was a result of many years of painstaking work undertaken already at her tender age by her father Mr. Ante Kostelić and the whole family. As stated by Mr. Kostelić, this success would not have been possible without free Croatia.

And Janica's brother, Ivica Kostelić, stunned everybody with his win in the 2001 World Cup slalom in Aspen, Colorado, USA, at the age of 22. He skied out of the 64th position in the first run, then was fastest in the second run to win in 1 minute, 38.81 seconds. It was the latest starting position for a slalom winner in World Cup history and third latest in any event. In December 2008 he secured his ninth career win at the Alta Badia slalom in Italy. Ivica is also known as the best blues and rock guitarist among skiers, and at the same time the best skier among blues and rock guitarists.

In 2003, Ivica and Janica Kostelić both won the title of world champions in slalom. They became the first siblings to win gold medals in the same event at the world's.

In 2006 Janica won gold medals in combined event at the Olympic games in Torino, Italy, and silver medal in Super-G. With this achievement (four gold medals and two silver on two Olympic Games) she became

• the most successful skier among women in the history of Olympic Games
• the first alpine skier, male or female, to win four medals at one Olympics.
• the first female alpine skier to win six Olympic medals.

Her brother Ivica won silver olympic medal in men's Alpine skiing combined event.

In 2010 Ivica won two silver medals for Croatia at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, one in slalom and another in combined. In 2011 he won a World Cup slalom race in Adelboden, Switzerland.

The life of the family of Kostelić is unique in the history of skiing sport (and may be in the history of sport in general). When Janica and Ivica were very young, they used to travel with their old Lada (Russian car), and also to sleep and eat in the car. At the same time other children stayed in a hotel, sleeping in their warm beds. Kostelić's were sleeping also in a small mountain tent, sometimes at the temperature reaching -20 degrees Celsius. They were not able to pay for their trainings, so they used to wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning, to wash their faces with snow, and train at dawn (free of charge) with their worn up gloves, while others were still sleeping or having breakfast.

It is well known that skiing is the sport of the rich. When Kostelić's went back home from Austria, Germany, France or Switzerland, several times it happened to them that they had to sell their skies in order to be able to buy petrol for their Lada... And let us not forget, at that time the Greater Serbian aggression was raging throughout Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1990-1995). Mr. Ante Kostelić-Gips himself, father of Ivica and Janica, is an amazing Croatian sportsman and trainer, former handball player, working with his children on the long run. He remembers with deep gratitude an Austrian, Mr Willie Arnsteiner, wire-keeper, who donated them 100 Schillings daily during a critical period, and who predicted their great skiing future. At the age of 15 Janica had 22 consecutive wins at European competitions for children during one season. One day after the death of president Franjo Tuđman, Janica was skiing with mourning black armband. Young Kostelić's were raised in deep patriotism, and their sacrifices will always be remembered. Let us also mention a regular short ritual of Christian crossing immediately before every competition. It is amusing to see how "objective" European TV media strive to avoid this indicative and important detail.

At the very end of 1999 Janica had a tragic fall: four of her ligaments on the knee out of five were broken. After a very difficult operation and reconstruction of her knee, she had a painstaking program of getting back to normal living. She was able not only to walk again, but also to win on European, World, and Olympic competitions in skiing.

The human story of Kostelić's is waiting to be written in all details, with a special emphasis on low blows of "independent" media. This story is much greater than the story about their sport successes. Ivica and Janica, like many others on this web page, would never have appeared without the advent of free Croatia.

Académie des sports, Paris - Le palmarès 2005 ... Janica Kostelić reçoit le Prix International Monique Berlioux 2006 (performance la plus remarquable de l'année écoulée): Janica Kostelić (Croatie - Ski alpin), triple championne du monde de ski alpin.

Japanese skier Akira Sasaki had his greatest sports achievement in 2003 on the skis of Ivica Kostelić. Namely, Ivica Kostelić lended him, upon Akira's request, his own pair of skis. On that occasion (World cup men's slalom in Wengen, Switzerland), Akira was placed the 2nd, and Ivica the 3rd.

Zrinka Ljutić was the winner of the skiing World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, for 2024/25.
This was the first Croatian victory since legendary Janica Kostelić in 2006. Ljutic si prende dei rischi enormi,...

Rudolf Matz (1901-1988), a famous cello player and music educator, professor at the University of Zagreb, was a top Croatian sportsman. As a sprinter he won the first place in the Prague in 1921, beating also German sprinters. He was a record holder in Croatia on 100 (for 11 years!), 200, 4x100, and 400 m. He stressed that the work of a music educator is similar to that of a trainer.

Lit. Zrinka Jelčić: Veliki opus vedrine / Rudolf Matz, Muzej Grada Zagreba, Zagreb 2017.

Sofía Mulánovich Aljovín (Sofia Mulanovich) is a Peruvian surfer of Croatian descent. She is the first Peruvian surfer ever to win an Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour event. In 2007 she was inducted into the Surfers Hall of Fame, and in 2009 into the Olympic Museum in Laussane in Switzerland.

Veljko Rogošić was named International Long Distance Swimming Federation World Champion four times between 1971 and 1974. He was the first one to have swam the distance of 200 km without interruption. From the town of Grado near Trieste in Italy to Riccone near Ancona he set the world record of 225 km in long distance swimming (during this swim he lost 16 kg).

In 1992 this outstanding sportsman entered the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, Florida, USA. He was participant of the Homeland War during Greater-Serbian aggression on Croatia and one of the founders of Croatian Marine Corps. Recipient of the Medal of Homeland War from president Franjo Tudjman. His motto and message to young people is

WITH SPORT AGAINST DRUGS

• Rogošić swam La Manche (45 km) in 2004 at the age of 63! For this he needed 11 hours and 27 minutes. His name was written in the 'Gold book of La Manche' as the first Croatian and the oldest man to do so.
• In the summer 2005 he swam almost 1,000 km along Croatian coast (from Savudrija to Rt Ostro in Konavle) in less than two months, at the age of 64! Also, this is the ultra-marathon swimming world record (880 km in 222 hours, in 57 etapes in less than 58 days).
• In 2008 Rogošić swam 171 km marathon from Sicilia to Africa, and reached Africa's Cape Bon in Tunisia. He started the first marathon from Europe to Africa on his 67th birthday!

Đurđica Bjedov won the Olympic gold medal in 100 m brestroke swimming during the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, breaking the then Olympic record. She was the first Croatian sportswoman to win an Olympic medal. At the same olympiade Đurđica also won silver medal in 200 m breaststroke.

In 1998, in the finals of the European Championship held in Sheffield, England, Miloš Milošević set the new world record in the 50 meter butterfly (23:30), thus beating the world record of the Russian swimmer Denis Pankratov, that many held unbeatable.

Miloš is a native of Split, now living and training in Rijeka.

In 1997, during the FINA World Cup organized in Paris, Tomislav Karlo set a European record in 50 m backstroke. In 2000, he became the winner of the FINA World Cup.

Gordan Kožulj was European champion in 2000 in backstroke swimming with 1:58.62 on 200m.

Duje Draganja won the Olympic silver medal in men's 50m freestyle final, Athens, 2004.

In 2008, Duje Draganja broke the men's 50 metres freestyle world record at the finals of the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Manchester, UK. This was one of the greatest successes in the history of Croatian sport.

In 2009, Duje Draganja became European champion in swimming - 100m meddley.

Sanja Jovanović from the city of Dubrovnik, broke the world record in 50 meters backstroke on European Short Course Swimming Championships in Hungary, 2007. This was one of the greatest achievements in the history of Croatian sport.

 

Sanja Jovanović, world champion in 50 m backstroke, 2007, AP Image

Sanja Jovanović with gold medal, breaking her own world record, and China's Gao Chang, silver, during the medal ceremony for the final of the Women's 50m backstroke at the World Short Course Swimming Championships at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Thomas)

 

Sanja Jovanović broke her own world record on 50m backstroke swimming at the 2008 World Swimming Championships Manchester, UK. Her new world record time is 26.37.

She again won her new gold medal at the European Swimming Championship held in Istanbul, capital of Turkey, 2009. And not only this, she broke the world record on 50 m backstroke, and her new world record is 25.70. This was her fourth world record in swimming at international competitions.

Cliff searching in Croatia

Dina Levačić, marathon swimmer, was he first Croatian woman to have swum across La Manche (or in English: English Channel), 2019.

Toni Pavičić-Donkić was the first Croat to swim across Gibraltar, 15.5 km, in 2007. It took him 3.09 h, which was the fourth time in history.

Toni Pavičić-Donkić swimming across La Manche (The English Channel), 36 km, in 2006.
He was the second Croat to swim across La Manche, the first one was Veljko Rogošić.

Toni Pavičić-Donkić; photo from www.hsdp.hr; many thanks to Mirko Crnčević for help.

Ana Sršen, photo from Hrvatski paraolimpijski odbor

Ana Srsen is a top Croatian paraolympic swimmer, very successfuly competing at interanational competitions for disabled. In 1998 she became a world record holder on 100 m breast-stroke. In 2002 she set two world records at Interantional Competition in Zagreb: on 200 m and on 800 m freestyle. Interview with Ana Sršen (in Croatian).

Mihovil Španja, Manchester 2008, source javno.com

Mihovil Španja, a top paraolympic swimmer, set a world record on 50 m breast-stroke for disabled in Berlin in 2008. At the 2008 Paraolympic World Cup in Manchester he won silver medal on 100 m backstroke.

During the 2010 World Championship in the Netherlands 2010 Mihovil Španja won paralympic gold medal on 400 m freestyle in large pools with a new world record 4:47.39, and another gold medal on on 100 m breastroke, again with a new world record 1:25.11. At the same competition he won silver medal on 100 m backstroke, and another silver medal on 200 m mixed style with a new European record 2:37.32.

Croatian Sports Federation For The Disabled

Darko Kralj won gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Paraolympic Games in China. Competing in Men's Shot Put he broke a new world record at the National Stadium known as Bird's Nest. He said: "My biggest wish was to listen to the Croatian anthem in Beijing." Mr. Kralj lost his left leg during the Serbian aggression on Croatia. Photos by Xinhua.

Antonia Balek won two gold medals during the Olympic Games in Bejing, China 2008:

The first known traces of tennis playing in Croatia date from 1878 (in Zagreb and Samobor). The first Davis Cup match in Croatia was played in Zagreb in 1927. In the finals of the 1939 Davis Cup match for the European zone, held in Zagreb, the Croatian team defeated the representation of Germany. The players who brought this victory were Franjo Punčeć and Dragutin Mitić. This was probably the gratest international success of Croatian sport in the first half of the 20th century. Besides the USA and Australia, by the end of 1930s Croatia had the strongest Davis Cup team in the world. See Povijest tenisa u Hrvatskoj, [PDF].

Dragutin Mitić (1917) was a distinguished Croatian tennis player. In 1938 Simone Mathieu (France) and Mitić became the Roland Garros mixed double champions. In 1939, playing with Franjo Puncec, he defeated the German Davis Cup team at the European zone finals in Zagreb. From 1954 until 1965 he worked as a tennis professional in Bogota, capital of Columbia. It is interesting that his photo appears on a Colombia stamp, see below. In 1965 he immigrated to the USA.

Dragutin Mitić, Croatian tennis player on a stamp in Columbia.
Photo of the stamp by Vladimir Novak.

Željko Franulović is one of the greatest players in the history of the Croatian tennis. He was one of the most important personalities in the organizational structure of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals). He was the proprietor of the ATP tournament in Geneva, director of the prestigious Masters' tournament in Frankfurt. He prepared an ATP tournament held in Zagreb in 1996, where Goran Ivanišević triumphed (the same day Iva Majoli triumphed in Tokyo; indeed, a great day for the Croatian tennis).

Goran Ivanišević (three times Wimbledon finalist, 2001 Wimbledon champion, see some photos from Fotoklub Split).

• Something amazing
• Goran dedicated Wimbledon 2001 to Dražen Petrović

He was among the top ten in the world in the 1990's.

Iva Majoli (winner of Roland Garros at the age of 18, Paris, 1997, at that time 4th on the world list)

Mirjana Lučić has won the 1998 Australian Tournament in doubles at the age of 15, together with the world champion Martina Hingis.

In the finals of the 2000 Gold Coast Open Silvija Talaja beat Concita Martinez, 1994 Wimbledon Winner.

In 2005 Croatia managed to win in the Davis Cup quarter-final match against very strong USA team on "their territory". Ivan Ljubičić (Bosnian Croat born in Banja Luka) defeated Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, and with his colleague Mario Ančić brought victory against brothers Bryan in the doubles. Until the match with Croatia in 2005 the USA Davis Cup team has never lost a round at home in 105 years of play! Furthermore, Croatia is only 12th country in history to win the Davis Cup.

Croatian team won the 2005 Davis Cup in the final match with Slovakia in Bratislava. This is one of the greatest achievements in the history of Croatian sport. Members of the team were

• Ivan Ljubičić,
• Mario Ančić,
• Ivan Karlović, and
• Goran Ivanišević.

Nikola Pilić, leader of the team, thus became the first captain in the history of Davis Cup to win the trophy for different nations (he led Germany to Davis Cup titles in 1988, 1989 and 1993).

Marin Čilić won the 2005 Roland Garros gold medal in Paris in the junior category (at the age of 16, as one of the youngest competitors). He lost only one set in the whole tournament. Marin was born in the famous Međugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2017 he reached the finals of the Wimbledon tournament, loosing to R. Federer.

Croatia Open Umag, International tennis championship of Croatia

Croatia winning 2018 Davis Cup against France - in France!

Croatia in the world of tennis

Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić winning gold, Marin Čilić and Ivan Dodig winning silver in the finals at 2021 Olympic men's tennis doubles final in Tokyo.

Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić were Wimbledon 2021 champions in the doubles.

Filip Grgić won gold medal at the 2007 Bejing WTF World Taekwondo Championships in male bantamweight (under 62 kg) category, China. Photo from www.wtf.org.

Martina Zubčić (feather category, under 57 kg, on the left) and Sandra Šarić (under 67 kg) won bronze medals in taekwondo at the 2008 Bejing Olympic Games.

Matea Jelić of Croatia won taekwondo gold medal at the 2021 Olymic Games in Tokyo. This was the first gold medal in this sport for Croatia.

Croatian waterpolo team, led by their coach Ivica Tucak, won the title of World champions for the second time, in Budapest, Hungary, 2017.
Croatian team: Bijač, Marcelić, Macan, Fatović, Lončar, Joković, Buljubašić, Vukičević, Bušlje, Sukno, Krapić, Šetka, Garcia.
We mention that Xavier Garcia is of Catalonian origin.

Croatia won the prestigeous FINA World Championships waterpolo competition held in Melbourne, 2007, with a perfect score of six consecutive wins. In 2017, they won the same title of FINA World Waterpolo Champions for the second time.

Samir Barač, a member of Croatian waterpolo team winning the title of World champions in Melbourne, 2007 (source: CROWN)

Miho Bošković, from the City of Dubrovnik, was proclaimed the best European waterpolo player for 2007 by LEN (Ligue Européenne de Natation), ie by the European Swimming League. By the way, Miho is professor of piano, which he studied at the Music Academy in Split. Photo from www.crowaterpolo.com.

Croatia became European waterpolo champion for 2010. The championship has been organized on Croatia's capital Zagreb, and the event was described as the best so far.

Croatian waterpolo team won  gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, winning all the matches.

Mladost-Zagreb is the most successful water polo club in the world, with the greatest number of world's and European trophies in its hands (seven times: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1989, 1990, 1996). In 2003 Mladost was awarded the newly founded yearly prize of the AWPC (Association of Water Polo Clubs) in Budapest, Hungary, for their contribution to the world wide popularity of water polo. Players of the Mladost (= Youth) team are nicknamed žabci (froggies; zaba = frog).

Žabci (Froggies), players of Mladost-Zagreb water polo club

Here is an excerpt from a lovely description of the 2001 triumph of the water polo club Jug from the famous Dubrovnik, winning the European Champions League, taken from www.waterpolo.com:

Elvis Leads JUG To "FINAL FOUR" Title
Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 19- Water polo is a national obsession in this beautiful Dalmatian coast port city, but it had been twenty years since Jug, the local club, had won the European Champions league. For the six thousand lucky souls who got tickets to the Gruz swimming stadium for this year's "Final Four," the championship game of professional water polo's premier event was a night to remember. The atmosphere at European water polo matches is unlike any event staged in the United States. Drums, air horns, flares and constant yelling - cheering, singing or whistling - depending upon the moment. It's impossible to hear the announcer and a wonder that the players can hear the signals from the referees. This year's event even had an appearance by Elvis. Elvis Fatovic that is. And it's hard to imagine Elvis Presley getting more cheers than his Croatian namesake when he scored the game's first goal at the two-minute mark...

Elvis Fatovic with the trophy of the 2001 European Champions League in water polo

Water polo club Jug from Dubrovnik, founded in 1923, was three times the winner of the Eureopan Champions League: 1980, 2001, 2006, and winner of European Supercup for 2006.

Croatian waterpolo team, led by their coach Ratko Rudic,
won the title of World champions in Melbourne, 2007 (source: CROWN)

Dean Lukin is a famous weigthlifter in Australia. He has Croatian roots: his father Dinko Lukin, a famous tuna farmer in Australia, is from Croatia. In 1984, with the assistance of an Eastern European and USSR boycott of the Los Angeles Games, Dean Lukin won Australia's first weightlifting gold medal at an Olympic Games.

His win was in the Super Heavyweight category (approximatly 140 kg), and in fact he was the first ever in the history of the sport to do so (snatch 172.5 kg, clean & jerk 240 kg, total 412.5 kg). Dean, a full-time tuna fisherman and part-time weightlifter, had the honour to carry the Australian flag during the closing ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games.

Dean Lukin 1982 Commonwealth Games, YouTube

Dean Lukin jerks 227.5kg 1983,YouTube

1985 Dean Lukin 240.5kg Jerk, YouTube

European champion Nikolay Pechalov (of Bulgarian origin) won Croatia's Olympic gold medal in weightlifting in men's 62 kilogram class in Sydney in 2000. He set an Olympic Games record of 150 kg in the snatch and lifted 175 kg in the clean and jerk for a combined total of 325 kg, an Olympic record. His principal sponsor was Goran Ivanisevic.

Outstanding Croatian wrestler ("Junak iz Like" - Hero from Lika) was Marijan Matijevic (1878-1951). Matijevic traveled throughout the world to exhibit his extraordinary physical power (bending metal rods, stone breaking), including China and Japan. He is known to have surpassed Primo Carnera from Italy. Buried in the town of Zupanja near Danube. He is known for his numerous humanitarian public performances. Matijevic was enormously popular, which can be seen from thousands of articles published throughout the world in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Arabian, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese and other languages. Once in the USA, when he was once introduced as an "Austrian athlete", he hastened to correct the announcer: "Dear gentlemen, I am not Austrian, I am Croatian born in proud Lika...".

Among plenty of his decorations and medals let us mention that the last Turkish sultan Abdul Hamid V decorated him in person in Ankara with the medal of the Great Turkish Star in 1904 (on the above photo, source lickisamson.blog.hr), as the winner of the World championship in wrestling in Constantinople.

Marijan Matijević met Nikola Tesla in New York in 1921, and on that occasion he
financially supported Tesla's experiments. Both Tesla and Matijević originate 
from the same part of Croatia, called Lika, north of the mountain of Velebit.

Reference

Stjepan Tomić: S Herkulom zlatna srca / Marijan Matijević - "Junak iz Like", Hrvatski crveni križ, Vinkovci 2003. ISBN 953-99195-0-9 (many thanks to Mrs. Katarina Filipović, Županja, for information about this book)

In wrestling there is the widespread term of

cravate, cravat, kravat, kravata

for headlock move (in French, English, Italian, Turkish, Croatian, Polish, and other languages). This term, used also for necktie, has been derived from the Croatian name.

Anton Baričević (1925-2003, with the second name also written as Barichievich), was a professional wrestler and a man of incredible power, a frequent guest of the USA media (appearing with Pierre Trudeau, Liza Minnelli, Lee Majors, Sophia Loren, Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatr, Mohammad Ali, Michael Jackson, and even with Mother Theresa), born in Veli Lošinj on the island of Lošinj in Croatia.

Stevan Horvat was distinguished Croatian wrestler, twice the world champion in the category up to 55 kg: in 1963 in Helsingborg, Sweden, and in 1966 in Toledo, USA. Subsequently he was instructor and coach of national wrestling teams of Japan, USA, Guatemala, Honduras, Slavador and the Netherlands. More information can be seen in the Leksikon podunavskih Hrvata - Bunjevaca i Šokaca, part 9 (H), pp. 62 and 63. In 2012 a bust was unveiled in his honour at the University of Novi Sad. The meaning of his second name, Horvat, is just - Croat.

Edward "Moose" Cholak became a wrestling star at Chicago Vocational High School and went on starring for 40 years as he took part in 8,000 matches, in 1963 becoming world champion.

One of truly fascinating exploits in which Croatian mariners participated is related to ARCTIC EXPEDITION in 1872-1874, organized by the then Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The Croats at that time had the status of Kingdom within the Empire.

Young Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947) played soccer in the city of Rijeka (Fiume) in 1905, then at the age of 23,
here in the middle of the second line. The soccer club was a part of the Club Atletico Fiumano, and La Guardia served as American consul in Rijeka in 1904-1906. He was the greatest mayor in the history of New York.

LaGuardia Airport in New York is named after him. Fiorello La Guardia learned Croatian language in these years.
When Nikola Tesla, distinguished Croatian inventor, died in 1943,  he read a nice euology via radio
as a Mayor of the city of New York. Source of the photo: www.formula1-dictionary.net/rijeka_povijest_1900-1925.html

Ivan Bjelovucic the first in history to fly over the Alps in 1913

Ana Zaninović was the World taekwondo champion in 2011. Two twin sinsters Ana and Lucija Zaninović were European taekwondo champions for 2014 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Young Matea Jelić and Ivana Babić were the  World junior taekwondo champions in Taiwan in 2014.

Frog Jumping Competition organized annualy by the Museum of Frogs in the village of Lokve, Croatia.

The leader of very important team responsible for computer support of Olympic Games is Boris Sakač, Zagreb, Croatia, in the course of many years, starting from Moscow Olympic Games held in 1980, till Athens in 2004.

Charles Billich is outstanding Croatian painter born in Lovran in Istria, and since 1956 working in Australia. He is Honorary Citizen of Atlanta, Centennial Olympic City, USA, since 1996. Billich was the official artist of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix Melbourne in 1996. In 1997 he was designated the official artist of the Australian and French Olympic teams for Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.

Charles Billich
Bing Mah Yong Show
at
American Sports Art Museum

• Australian Olympic Committee Headquarters, Sydney
• International Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland
• Selengor Turf Club Equestrian and Sports Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• United States Sports Academy
• QinShiHuang BingMa Yong Museum, X'ian, China

In 2004, the China International Culture Exchange Center (CICEC) in Beijing appointed Mr. Ante Glibota, Croatian historian of art and architecture, for a fiveyear term as Foreign Counselor for International Cultural Exchanges. Since 2010 he serves as Vice-President and Curator-in-Chief of the Museum of Art and Urbanity in Shanghai, China. He was appointed curator and editor of “Art and Sport”, an exhibition organized by Adidas and the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing, China.

Jovica Kozlica from the city of Split was paper wings world champion in Salzburg 2009 in long distance throw reaching 54.43 metres.