January 30, 2022 - The Croatian Olympic Committee (COC) in cooperation with the Croatian Ski Federation (HSS) on Saturday presented the majority of the 2022 Croatia Winter Olympic team that will compete at the Games in Beijing from February 4 to 20. 

Seven of the 11 Croatian representatives who will compete in Beijing - alpine skiers Andrea Komšić, Zrinka Ljutić, and Matej Vidović, Nordic skiers Vedrana Malec, Marko Skender, and Tena Hadžić and snowboarder Lea Jugovac - took part in a relaxed gathering with the media, while respecting current epidemiological measures.

The Vice President of the Croatian Olympic Committee Morana Paliković Gruden, the State Secretary for Sports at the Ministry of Tourism and Sports Tomislav Družak, and the Head of the Croatian Olympic Committee Mission in Beijing Damir Šegota wished them successful performances.

With the emphasis on the importance of competition despite the pandemic by the COC Vice President and the effective message from Secretary of State Druzak ("Good luck leaving, come back even happier"), Šegota had the thankless task of announcing four PCR tests and other commitments needed to function in the Olympic villages of the Chinese capital.

Snowboarder Lea Jugovac explained her disciplines and has hopes to succeed in her Olympic Games debut accordingly to her satisfaction. Another debutant, cross-country skier Tena Hadžić, emphasized her happiness with the fact that she became a Croatian Olympian at the age of only 17, and her peer, alpine skier Zrinka Ljutić, said the same. 

"These are my first Games and I am very excited about them. It is definitely a special feeling when we are all together and fighting for Croatia," said Ljutić, adding that she has great support from her representative colleagues, primarily Andrea Komšić, but also Leona Popović.

Andrea Komšić is traveling to the third Winter Olympics and wants to do her best, regardless of the announcement that the snow will not be great for European representatives.

"I did well in the preparations, I feel good both physically and mentally. As for the results, Leona opened our eyes this season and showed that it is possible," said Komšić, adding that she feels very comfortable in the winter collection of the 4F brand, which has hit the design again.

Matej Vidović is also going to his third Games. He made his debut in Sochi and competed in Pyongyang.

"I am very motivated, I want to achieve something more than competing itself. My form is at a high level and I want to use it to achieve the best possible result. Although the focus will be on performance, not results, I would be pleased to be among the top eight," Vidović said.

Flag bearer Marko Skender wanted to stay healthy and enter the first half of the competition in three disciplines of cross-country skiing. He had the most questions from journalists about carrying the flag, said he wasn't nervous, but promised that he would practice this honorary act before leaving home.

His Nordic colleague, Vedrana Malec, hopes for the best at her third, and likely final Games. She pointed out that Croatia's Nordic skiers mostly train in Slovenia, which has become their reality.

"For the second time, we will wear 4F equipment and I can say that it is excellent again - quality, comfortable, and designed so that we are always recognizable as Croatian Olympians," she concluded. 

Croatia's Olympic athletes will travel to China on Sunday, January 30, 2022.

Source: HRT

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ZAGREB, 24 Jan 2022 - During the 4-20 February Winter Olympics in Beijing, 11 athletes will represent Croatia, ten of whom are member of the Croatian Ski Federation, Croatia's Olympic committee said on Monday.

Croatia's skiers include Zrinka Ljutić, Leona Popović and Andrea Komšić in the women's events and Filip Zubčić, Matej Vidović and Samuel Kolega in the men's Alpine skiing events and all of them, except Vidović, will compete in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom, while Vidović will only take part in the Slalom event.

Vedrana Malec, Marko Skender and Tena Hadžić will represent Croatia in the Nordic events.

Lea Jugovac will compete in snowboard events including Big Air and Slopestyle.

Croatia to have one competitor in Speed Skating

Valentina Aščić will take part in the short track - 500 and 1,500 metres.

Croatia had 11 athletes at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia in 2014, while a record number of Croatian athletes, 23, participated in the games in Turin in 2006.

July 29, 2021 - Čilić and Dodig reached the finals of the Olympic Games in doubles with a victory against the New Zealand pair Daniell and Venus (6-2, 6-2) and thus secured an Olympic tennis medal for Croatia!

The joys in the Tokyo Olympics do not stop coming for Croatia, and especially in the doubles category in tennis, where until yesterday it was known that they had at least secured a bronze medal by having the couple Čilić and Dodig, and recent Wimbledon champions Mektić and Pavić, both in the semi-finals. But today Marin Čilić and Ivan Dodig beat their New Zealand rivals (6-2, 6.2) and qualified for the final, now securing a silver medal for Croatia.

Later, Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić will play with the Americans Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren, and in the event of the victory of Mektić and Pavić, Croatia would win another medal in Tokyo, and for the first time, we would watch the Croatian final at the Olympic Games, reports Index.hr.

Čilić and Dodig easily celebrated in the semifinals against the New Zealanders. It was uncertain only up to 2: 2 in the first set. After that, the Croatian tennis players made a series of eight games, rushed to 6: 2, 4: 0, and calmly kept the advantage for a huge celebration.

To reach this stage, Čilić and Dodig had to beat the Japanese Daniel and Nishioka (6-2, 6-4) in the first round. In the second round they beat the Americans Ram and Tiafoe (6-3, 7-5), and yesterday they beat the British Murray and Salisbury (4-6, 7-6, 10-7) for the quarterfinals.

Until the Games in Tokyo, Čilić and Dodig played 22 doubles matches and celebrated in 12 of them, and they had the best form in 2016 when they recorded all doubles victories in the Davis Cup, but despite that, Croatia lost the Davis Cup final that year to Argentina.

In the finals, they could expect Mektić and Pavić, the best tennis pair of today, which has 51 victories and only five defeats this year. It should be remembered that Metkić and Pavić arrived in Tokyo as the recent champions of the Wimbledon doubles tournament this month.

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

To learn more about the history of sport in Croatia and everything about its most famous athletes, be sure to check Total Croatia's guide.

December 22, 2019 - As the sentiment of self-determination blows from London to Barcelona, a look at the Catalan factor in Croatia's road to international recognition in 1992.

One of the things I enjoy about living in Croatia is the constant level of learning about its fascinating history, both ancient and much more recent. My arrival in Croatia from Somaliland in 2002 was very accidental and due to a Croatian National Tourist Board video, and while I have learned a lot about Croatia since then, there is still so much to learn, even about the first decade or so of independence prior to me buying a house in Jelsa. 

It was a big surprise, for example, to learn which sovereign nation was the first to recognise the newly independent Croatia back in 1991. I am sure every Croat knows the answer well, but how many others do?

The answer is Iceland. 

Not long before I moved to Croatia, I found myself watching a movie in a Mumbai hotel room called Shot Through the Heart. It was a story of two Yugoslav marksmen who were expecting to achieve Olympic glory for Yugoslavia at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Apparently based on a true story of two Sarajevo friends, one Muslim and one Serb, their Olympic dream was shattered when war broke out and they found themselves shooting not at a Catalan target for Olympic gold, but rather at each other. 

The film has been shelved in the back of my head for years until recently when I heard about a Catalan delegation visiting Croatia as part of Catalan diplomatic efforts to secure support for their bid for autonomy from Madrid. As TCN reported at the time, neither Croatia's President or Prime Minister met with the delegation from Barcelona (unlike Slovenian President Pahor), but they were warmly received by Varazdin County Prefect, Radimir Cacic, who spoke at length about the areas of interest for economic cooperation. 

"But you do know about the small but significant Catalan contribution back in 1992 as Croatia was trying to establish international recognition, at the Barcelona Olympics?" asked a friend when the topic came up over a beer. 

I little like the Icelandic recognition, I had no idea, but memories of the two sharpshooters in the movie came back, as well as a thought that it must have been quite an impressive diplomatic effort to not only get Croatia recognised by the Olympic family, but also competing under its own flag both at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the Barcelona Summer Olympics, where every Croat will tell you their newly independent country won silver in the basketball against the 'Dream Team' from the USA - watch the final below. 

It turns out that the speed of Croatia's acceptance in the family was helped along by a great friend of Croatia, International Olympic Committee chairman, Juan Antonio Samaranch, a Catalan. The Croatian Olympic Committee was only formed in October, 1991, and just four months and seven days later, Croatia was welcomed into the Olympic family, before it was granted a seat at the UN. Things moved even quicker after that, with an invitation to the Olympic Games after being accepted into the IOC, a record timeline. 

The first appearance of Croatian sportsmen under the Croatian flag, which was led by the first President of the COC, Antun Vrdoljak today a member of the International Olympic Committee (since 1995), will have a special place in the history of Croatia at the Olympics. In addition to the basketball silver, Croatia also came home with two bronze medals in tennis, thanks to Goran Ivanisevic and Goran Prpic. Watch Ivanisevic reflect on the medals of 1992 below.

And the Samaranch effect did not end there, as Visnka Staresijna noted in a recent article on the subject in Slobodna Dalmacija:

A few years later, under the auspices of Juan Antonio Samaranch, a sculpture of our Drazen Petrovic was erected in the park of the Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne. It was the first sculpture of an individual athlete to be erected in an Olympic park.

Croatia expressed its gratitude, as Samaranch became one of the first recipients of its highest State honour, the Grand Order of King Tomislav. The Grand Order of King Tomislav is the highest state order of Croatia. It is usually awarded to top foreign officials for their contribution to the improvement of Croatia's good standing internationally as well as achievements in developing international relations between Croatia and their respective countries. It is awarded by the President of Croatia.

Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, which included the Croatian Olympic sport into the great worldwide community of the Olympic movement, contributing to the international recognition of the sovereign and independent Republic of Croatia. His merit has enabled Croatian athletes to represent their nation for the first time in history in the Olympics in Albertville and Barcelona, thus permanently joining the global Olympic family. With this extraordinary act, the Republic of Croatia was included in the International Olympic Committee before being invited to be a member of the United Nations.

The path to Catalan independence may or may not succeed, but if it does, I wonder what little historical nuggets young Catalans of the future will learn about the origins of their independent State, such as the Iceland love and Catalan Olympic support that are now part of independent Croatian folklore. 

The Olympian luger has cited conflict and lack of support from the Croatian Luge Federation as the reason. 

ZAGREB, February 3, 2018 - With a total of 332 medals (118 gold, 113 silver and 101 bronze) Norway is the first in the all-time Winter Olympics medal count, while Croatia ranks 23rd of a total of 42 countries that have won medals at those games.

ZAGREB, February 2, 2018 - The 32-year-old Alpine skier Natko Zrnčić Dim will be the flag bearer for Croatia at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, on 9 February.

ZAGREB, January 29, 2018 - Eleven days before the start of the 23rd edition of the Winter Olympic Games that will be held in South Korea, a total of 20 Croatians, who compete in four sports, have secured their place in the games.

After a highly successful Olympics for Croatia's athletes, the New York Times puts that success into context on August 22, 2016.

Education and Sports Minister Predrag Šustar will try to find more money for Croatian Olympians.