Individual Sports
Janica Kostelić is the most successful female alpine ski racer in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. She is the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics Alpine skiing events (in 2002 and 2006), and the only woman to win three alpine skiing gold medals in one Olympics (2002). She also won two slilver medals in 2006. Janica was the World Cup overall champion in 2001, 2003, and 2006. On February 5, 2006 Janica became only the second female skier to win all five disciplines in one season. She also holds the record for the highest number of points in one World Cup season. In 2006 she won Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year. Her elder brother Ivica Kostelić was the 2003 World Champion in slalom and the Men's Overall Champion at the 2011 Alpine Skiing World Cup, and is a three-time Winter Olympic silver medalist himself.
Blanka Vlašić is the best-known Croatian track and field athlete; she specialises in the high jump. She is 2007 and 2009 World Champion. Blanka is also 2008 World Indoor Champion and 2008 Olympic silver medalist. Her personal best is 2.08 m (6 ft 9.89 in) (which is only 1 cm less than the world record) set in Zagreb at August 31, 2009.
Croatian athletes have had considerable success in individual sports as well, where they represented Croatia in international competitions at the highest level. These sports include:
- Alpine skiing
- Janica Kostelić, Ivica Kostelić, Natko Zrnčić-Dim, Ana Jelušić, Nika Fleiss, Sofija Novoselić
- Athletics
- Blanka Vlašić, Branko Zorko, Sandra Perković, Ivan Horvat
- Biathlon
- Jakov Fak (now competes for Slovenia)
- Boxing
- Željko Mavrović, Stipe Drviš, Mate Parlov
- Canoeing
- Matija Ljubek
- Figure skating
- Sanda Dubravčić, Idora Hegel
- Kickboxing
- Branko Cikatić, Mirko Filipović
- Mixed martial arts
- Mirko Filipović
- Rowing
- Nikša Skelin, Siniša Skelin
- Swimming
- Miloš Milošević, Duje Draganja, Gordan Kožulj, Sanja Jovanović, Đurđica Bjedov, Mihovil Španja, Mario Todorović, Saša Imprić
- Table tennis
- Zoran Primorac, Tamara Boroš, Dragutin Šurbek, Antun Stipančić, Sandra Paović, Cornelia Molnar, Tian Yuan
- Tennis
- Goran Ivanišević, Ivan Ljubičić, Marin Čilić, Mario Ančić, Iva Majoli, Karolina Šprem, Ivo Karlović, Lovro Zovko, Petra Martić, Mirjana Lučić, Donna Vekić, Silvija Talaja, Ana Vrljić, Jelena Kostanić Tošić
Read more about this topic: Sport In Croatia
Famous quotes containing the words individual and/or sports:
“That children link us with the future is hardly news. . . . When we participate in the growth of children, a sense of wonder must take hold of us, providing for us a sense of future. Without the intimation of concrete individual futures, it is hardly worth bothering with social change and improvement.”
—Greta Hofmann Nemiroff (20th century)
“I looked so much like a guy you couldn’t tell if I was a boy or a girl. I had no hair, I wore guys’ clothes, I walked like a guy ... [ellipsis in source] I didn’t do anything right except sports. I was a social dropout, but sports was a way I could be acceptable to other kids and to my family.”
—Karen Logan (b. 1949)