Croatia: Factory of sporting talent
zagreb — Preparing for a first-ever World Cup final against France — punches above its weight in many sports, with talent, passion and patriotism making up for a lack of resources in the small nation.
The nation’s footballers, including Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic, are preparing for football’s biggest game in Moscow on Sunday knowing they have a guaranteed place in the Balkan country’s sporting folklore whatever the result.
But the list of sporting heroes churned out by the country of just over four million also includes former tennis player Goran Ivanisevic and current star Marin Cilic as well as high jump double world champion Blanka Vlasic.
Drazen Petrovic, killed in a car crash, and Toni Kukoc, were both NBA stars, helping to bounce Croatia into the sporting spotlight.
Former Croatia international footballer Niko Kovac, the new coach of German giants Bayern Munich, talked of his pride in wearing the red-and-white jersey.
“Sport is in our blood,” Berlinborn Kovac wrote in German newspaper FAZ. “Croatia loves competition and comparing itself against others and it wants to be the best.”
He said sport was a way to earn a living or a passport to work abroad at a time when the Croatian economy was struggling. “That gives an example for young sportsmen and women and we already have many idols who they can emulate,” he said.
Kovac said while facilities in Croatia were not on the same level as those in Germany, school sport was still a priority.
“They might not have the most modern facilities but basketball rings hang in every school playground and mini-football pitches and handball courts are marked out everywhere.”
Croatia’s national handball team are former world champions and Olympic gold medallists while the water polo squad are reigning world champions.
Experts say sporting success comes mostly in ball sports because they are cheaper to play.
Achievements in individual sports such as athletics, swimming, skiing or gymnastics are rarer.
Siblings Janica and Ivica Kostelic became alpine skiing champions against all the odds in a coun- try lacking high mountains. Despite a lack of financial support, stories of the Kostelic family sleeping in tents and the family car while travelling between competitions and training venues are legendary in the sport.
“There is no special secret for the success of Croatian sport, but simply a true, genuine love and passion for what one is doing,” said Janica Kostelic, the first woman to win four gold medals in Olympic alpine skiing history. —
There is no special secret for the success of Croatian sport, but simply a true, genuine love and passion for what one is doingd Janica Kostelic