Croatian Olympic Committee

Minsk, June 20,  2019 - The flag-raising ceremony of the participating countries in the eve of the European Games in Minsk significantly differed from previous tradition before major multi-sports events. There was no single flag lifting in the reserved period for each Sports Delegation, but all the flags welcomed the participants on the masts and the symbolics of that act was shifted to a more lasting memory of the Games’ host. Namely, representatives of 50 countries chose two athletes who planted - in the future park, outside the Sports Village - oak trees, and a plaque with the flag of a country was immediately  added to each planted oak.

Zagreb, June 13, 2019 - After an exceptionally successful Dubrovnik promotion of VK Jug monograph, titled Pet do 100 (5 to 100), Zagreb presentation of the impressive work of Željko Konsuo and his associates also attracted great attention of the local (sports) public. Besides the female and male water polo players, coaches, officials and friends of sports, the promotion at the Concert Hall Vatroslav Lisinski was made truly special by attendance of numerous dignitaries from political life, led by the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Zagreb, June 13, 2019 - President of the Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO) Zlatko Mateša received a three-member delegation of the Japanese Embassy in the Republic of Croatia, led by the new Ambassador H.E. Misako Kaji, at the premises of the National Olympic Association in Zagreb. The main topic of the talks were the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and continuation of sports cooperation between Croatian athletes and their Japanese friends, primarily from the city of Tokamachi.

Zagreb, June 7, 2019 - The world premiere of the documentary movie "Croatian Sports Legends - 120 years of Croatian Sports" was held in Cinestar’s completely full hall at Zagreb shopping mall Branimir Center. The famous Croatian director Jakov Sedlar with his associates, screenwriter Nina Škrabe and producer Anton Kikaše, summed up in this film our trophy and glorious sports history - from Olympic bronze of swordsman Milan Neralić at the Paris Olympics 1900 to last year's spectacular world silver of Croatian football players and our tennis players – winners of the World Champions title.

Zagreb, June 7, 2019 - In cooperation of the Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO) and the Croatian Sports Journalists Association (HZSN), the Communications Seminary with very interesting topics was held at the headquarters of the Croatian NOC. The Seminary was attended by fifteen representatives of the national sports federations and associations and staff of the CNOC PR & Multimedia Department. Following the greeting words of the CNOC President Zlatko Mateša and HZSN President Jura Ozmec, experienced Hina’s (Croatian News Agency) photojournalist and official cameraman of the Croatian Athletes at the European Games in Minsk and at the Tokyo Olympics Damir Senčar talked about digital photography (its design and application).

Lucerne, June 2, 2019 - At the European Rowing Championships (senior level) in Lucerne, the Golden Croatian Olympians in Double Sculls in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Martin and Valent Sinković, won a gold medal in Men’s  Coxless Pairs (M2-), while Luka Radonić (Lightweight Single Sculls) and Damir Martin (Classic Men’s Single Sculls) participated in the A finals but not fast enough to step onto the winning pedestal. In a rarely seen dominance and demonstration of rowing quality, the brothers Sinković had the race under control from the beginning to the end and triumphed with 6:22.460 minutes, ahead of Rumania with 6.24.530 and Spaniards with 6:26.310 minutes. Luka Radonić took the fourth place in Lightweight Single Sculls finals with a time of 7:06.490 minutes, which is more than four seconds behind for third-placed Italian Goretti.

Zagreb, May 17, 2019 - The 15th International Session for Presidents or Directors of the National Olympic Academies: Olympic Diplomacy and peace - Peace Education as part of Olympic Education was held in ancient Olympia in Greece. In addition to 150 directors from 86 countries from all five continents, the Croatian Olympic Academy (HOA) participated in the Session, represented in a very active role by its Director Saša Ceraj. At the invitation of the President of the International Olympic Academy, isidoros Kouvelos, Ceraj held a lecture on the topic of Building Bridges, not Walls: The Uniting Role of Sports among People and Countries. Ceraj, among other, pointed out:

Zagreb, May 19, 2019 – The Croatian National Taekwondo Team brings from the World Championships in Manchester (UK) a record number of medals won at world events. After Doris Pole (+73 kg) and Kristina Tomić (49 kg) won bronze in the past couple of days, on the last day of competing at the World Championships 20-year-old Bruna Vuletić (62 kg) and 19-year-old Ivan Šapina (87 kg) won two more bronze medals. On the way to the finals and the brighter medal Vuletić and Šapina were defeated by Brazilian representatives Caroline Santos and Miguel Martins Soares.

Zagreb, May 21, 2019 – The Croatian National Sambo Team blended into the last weekend’s "medal harvest", colored bronze to numerous Croatian female and male athletes. They brought three bronze medals from the European Senior Championships in the Spanish city of Gijon (from 17-20 May 2019). Dejan Gunjavić (with coach Željko Banić) had the hardest time to medal for winning bronze in Combat Sambo in the category of up to 82 kg. He managed to eliminate the multiple World Champion Russia’s Alexei Ivanov, but he was defeated in the semifinals by the Belarusian Yauheni Aleksiyevich.

Zagreb, May 23, 2019 - A five-member delegation from South Korea visited the Croatian Olympic Committee for the purpose of promoting taekwondo, as well as strengthening the cooperation with the fans of this sport in Croatia. The delegation was led by Shin Kinam, Special Envoy of the Korean Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports. Guests from Korea were received by the President of the Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO) Zlatko Mateša, accompanied by the leader of the Korean-Croatian Business Club Zoran Horvat and former taekwondoka, coach and prominent taekwondo officer Tamara Pradegan. The Croatian ambassador to South Korea Damir Kušen assisted in the realization of this meeting and the main motive of the meeting is the wish of the World Taekwondo Federation (World Taekwondo) from Seoul for sports presentation in Rijeka – next year’s European Capital of Culture. Namely, since a cooperation agreement between World Taekwondo and the University of Rijeka was signed three years ago, the Korean government wants to use this prestigious status of the Croatian city in 2020 for a stronger promotion of taekwondo at the European level. The President of the Croatian Olympic Committee Mateša supported this Korean initiative and promised to help them in fulfilling another great wish – hosting Dalić's electees in the near future. Shin Kinam announced that this is a logical sequence given the popularity of Croatian football players in South Korea.   Of course, in addition to sports, Croatia is interested in cooperation in many other areas in South Korea. This is also confirmed by the composition of the delegation visiting our beautiful homeland. Shin Kinama was accompanied by the film producer Baek Hak Gi, professor of music at Na Jungyoon, official translator Redden Soonyoung and UPI reporter Lee Sang Bong. (cnoc/vk)

Osijek, May 26, 2019 - Gymnastics World Cup (DOBRO World Cup Osijek 2019) in the Osijek sports hall Gradski vrt brought Croatia two brightest medals. After Robert Seligman’s gold won on Saturday in Pommel Horse, on the second day of finals the best Croatian gymnast Ana Đerek won another gold medal. In the finals of the party, Ana brilliantly performed in Floor Wag and received a high score of 13,033, worth the first place. With the same number of points, the second was Ukrainian Angelina Radivilova who, despite a higher starting score, had a weaker performance than Ana.

Plovdiv, May 12, 2019 - The best Croatian rowers have proven to be very competitive at the premiere this season’s competition of the world rowing elite. At the first World Cup regatta in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, the Single Scull rower Damir Martin got back into the winning groove, the brothers Martin and Valent Sinković took second place in Coxless Pair, while the Lightweight Single Scull rower Luka Radonić was the first to step on the winning pedestal – in Saturday's program he won a bronze medal. Olympic Vice-Champion from Rio de Janeiro, Damir Martin, convincingly won the first place by being six and a half seconds better than the runner-up Belarusian Pilip Pavoukou, while the third was the Finnish Robert Ven.