November 5, 2021- Top swimming coach Ivan Petrov, who led the national team of Hungary four times at the Olympic Games, signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Croatian Swimming Federation.

Ivan Petrov will transfer his knowledge and experience to Croatian swimming coaches as well as to swimmers, reports T.portal.

The first joint activities have already been done at the preparations held in Pula, as well as at the first Grand Prix competition Jadran GP, which this year was held in Šibenik instead of Split.

Petrov is currently with the Croatia swimming team at the European Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia.

As the coach of Hungary, Petrov participated in the Olympic Games four times (2008, 2012, 2016, 2020). Behind him is a celebrated coaching career, numerous World and European Championships, and other international competitions, in which his swimmers won the world and European medals and broke the world and European records.

In addition to working with the national team since 2013, Petrov is the head coach of the Gyori Uszo SE club.

His work has been recognized by the World Swimming Federation (FINA) and the European Swimming Federation (LEN) which have included him as a member in their Coaching Boards.

The cooperation with Petrov is one in a series of activities of the Croatian Swimming Federation that are being undertaken to return Croatian swimming to the top of the world swimming scene.

T.portal reported earlier this week that the president of the Croatian Swimming Federation, Vladislav Veselica, with the help of his closest associates and the World Swimming Federation (FINA), the umbrella world water sports organization, has launched several great projects that should produce new medal winners at big competitions.

"I can already announce that FINA will train Croatian swimming coaches in its educational centers," explained Veselica for T.portal, and announced the development of a Croatian swimming strategy.

"The strategy will cover several key areas of development, but they are all aimed at bringing together a community of athletes and professionals around swimming, from those entering the pool for the first time to the Olympians, who will build the sport together, but also the whole society we live in. We want to look up to Budapest, the city of a hundred pools, and cover the whole of Croatia with top swimming facilities, Olympic pools, and not semi-solutions in which it is not possible to train well and hold competitions. The long-term goal is to build a national swimming center," revealed Veselica's ambitious plan.

"But it's not all about building infrastructure, we will invest in coaches, their expertise, as well as in modern technological solutions that are used today by swimming superpowers, and are not yet used in our country. We will also dedicate an important part of the strategy to educating athletes about nutrition and training."

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June 9, 2020 - When planning your summer holiday after the corona crisis, cleanliness is certainly one of the factors topping the list. Good news for those of you choosing Croatia, which boasts some of the cleanest swimming waters in Europe.

Croatia is one of five European countries with the cleanest bathing waters, the European Environment Agency (EEA) announced on Monday, as borders begin to open after the corona crisis and tourists consider where to spend their summer holidays.

Namely, Dalmacija Danas reports that the cleanest swimming waters in Europe are in Cyprus, Austria, Malta, Greece and Croatia, according to a report by the European Commission and the EEA.

Those five countries received an excellent rating of at least 95 percent for their swimming areas. In Cyprus, 99.1 percent of bathing places received a rating of "excellent".

Tourists who fear being infected with the coronavirus while swimming should follow the guidelines of national or local authorities, the agency says. They should keep physical distances and wash their hands often enough.

Just under 85% of swimming sites across Europe monitored in 2019 met the European Union's highest and most stringent ‘excellent' quality standards. The agency tested bathing areas on about 22,300 sea, river and lake beaches in the EU, including Britain, Switzerland and Albania.

About two-thirds of the bathing areas are at sea and they are generally cleaner than the waters inland. Tests found that 294 sites, or 1.3 percent, have poor water quality and pose a risk for diseases such as diarrhea.

Commissioner in charge of the Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said, “Clean bathing water is usually taken as something that is gifted, but it's actually one of the European collective achievements. It's the result of hard work by many people over many years. This year's report once again confirms that European citizens can continue to enjoy very high-quality standards when bathing in European waters and all measures must be taken to continue along this path.”

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According to the latest annual report on monitoring the quality of water for swimming in Europe, more than 85 percent of European bathing sites surveyed met the EU's stringent standards and received a rating of "excellent" for water purity, including Croatia who scored 94.4 percent in quality. The results are a good indicator of where you can find the best spots to swim this summer, reports HRTurizam on June 8, 2019. 

Some 95.4 percent of the 21,831 bathing sites in the 28 EU Member States monitored met the minimum quality requirements in line with EU regulations, according to this year's European Commission and European Environment Agency (EEA) report. The report also includes 300 bathing sites in Albania and Switzerland.

The number of bathing areas that met the strictest quality standards and received the "excellent" rating rose slightly, from 85 percent in 2017 to 85.1 percent last year. Looking at bathing areas that met the minimum conditions for assessing "satisfactory quality", the picture is somewhat different. In 2017, they made up 96 percent, and in 2018, slightly less - 95.4 percent. The main reason for this is the opening of new bathing areas, and according to the Bathing Water Directive, the classification is based on data for four bathing seasons. Last year, water quality in 301 bathing areas (1.3% of them) in the EU, Albania, and Switzerland were rated as "bad", compared to 1.4 percent in 2017.

"Yesterday we marked World Environment Day. There are many challenges ahead of us, and that is why it is important to remember the success stories of the European Union on ecology. The quality of European swimming spots is one of those stories that are close to everyone. By researching, reporting, tracking and exchanging professional knowledge, we strive to improve the quality of our favorite swimming spots. A new review of environmental activities will enable member states to show each other how to achieve the best and maintain the outstanding standards that have come to fruition during my mandate. I want to thank the European Environment Agency for helping to improve standards and regularly send reliable information, because you will be able to choose where you want to swim this summer easily,” said Karmnu Vella, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

European Environment Agency Executive Director Hans Bruyninckx added that "the report confirms that the Member States have been making efforts for more than 40 years, primarily in the area of wastewater treatment. Most Europeans today enjoy excellent quality bathing. Nevertheless, this is just one of the main issues, with the contamination of plastics and the protection of sea life, which we have to solve so that our sea, lakes, and rivers are healthier. "

Bathing water requirements are laid down in the EU Bathing Water Directive. By enforcing its provisions, we have significantly improved the quality of bathing water in Europe for the last 40 years. This directive introduced effective monitoring and management, and combined with investments in the purification of municipal wastewater, there was a drastic reduction in the amount of untreated or partially purified waste water from households and industries that are being discharged into watercourses. Local authorities are required to collect water samples at official bathing sites during the bathing season. The samples are then searched for two types of bacteria whose presence indicates pollution that causes wastewater or waste of animal origin.

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

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