Croatia at the Olympics
The nation of Croatia was formed with the split up of Yugoslavia in 1991, as was also Macedonia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro. Prior to that, Croatian athletes had been participating in the Summer Olympics since 1920 as part of the team from Yugoslavia. But after Yugoslavia's breakup, Croatia established its National Olympic Committee in 1991 and was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1993. However, Croatia was able to participate as an independent nation for the first time in 1992 with a delegation of 39 athletes.
With years of rigid training under the Yugoslavian rule, Croatian athletes made an impact in the International Olympic community by taking home 3 Olympic medals in their first appearance as an independent nation. As a matter of fact, Croatia has never missed the Summer Games since 1992 and their athletes have managed to take home Olympic medals in from every Summer Games they have attended. Their first Olympic gold medal came in 1996 when their men's national handball team won the in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Their men's water polo team also managed to win second place.
Croatia has also never missed the Winter Olympics since their debut in 1992. But unlike in the Summer Games, they had to wait until 2002 for their first-ever Winter Games medals. Alpine skier Janica Kostelić dominated her competitors by snatching the top spot in women's combined, slalom and giant slalom events and she also took the silver for the women's Super-G. Janica went back for the 2006 for the Turin Winter Olympics again taking the gold for women's combined and the silver for the women's Super-G as well. Her older brother Ivica also won the silver in men's combined. Ivica Kostelić is also a decorated alpine skier himself winning silver for both men's combined and slalom in the 2010 Winter Games and silver for men's combined in 2014. Biathlete Jakov Fak also won a bronze medal in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. This means that Croatia has been taking home Olympic medals consistently since 2002.
Trivia
- Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic won silver as part of the quadruple sculls at the 2012 London Olympics, before winnng gold in the double sculls in Rio in 2016, and again in the men's coxless pair in Tokyo, and are on target for another medal in Paris.
Related Pages
- Croatia at the Winter Olympics
- List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
- About sport in Croatia
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