Piše: RADICA JURKIN
Priznanja i promaknuća hrvatskih športskih dužnosnika U prvoj polovici 2018. godine brojni su hrvatski športski dužnosnici doživjeli promaknuća ili su nagrađeni u znak priznanja za doprinos športu i njegovom razvoju na nacionalnoj i međunarodnoj razini. Među nagrađenima je predsjednik Hrvatskog olimpijskog odbora i član Izvršnog vijeća Europskih olimpijskih odbora Zlatko Mateša koji je u lipnju u Londonu primio nagradu „Power Brands - Hall of Fame“ kao jedan od najutjecajnijih globalnih društvenih lidera u 2018. godini. Predsjedniku HOO-a i bivšem hrvatskom premijeru (1995. - 2000.) apostrofirano je dugogodišnje djelovanje u nacionalnom i međunarodnom športu, te posebice borba za čistoću športa kroz djelovanje u članstvu glavnog odbora Svjetske antidopinške agencije (WADA). Posebna priznanja za doprinos utjecaju športa u lokalnim sredinama, dobio je u lipnju ove godine Siniša Krajač, pomoćnik glavnog tajnika HOO-a za šport na lokalnoj razini i to Plaketu Grada Knina za izniman doprinos na poboljšanju, osiguranju uvjeta i razvoju kninskog športa, a Povelju s likom Petra Preradovića za zasluge u promicanju vrijednosti športa i potporu u stvaranju materijalnih uvjeta rada, posebice mlađeg naraštaja, uručila mu je Općina Pitomača. Među promaknućima je imenovanje člana Vijeća HOO-a i predsjednika Hrvatskog auto i karting saveza Zrinka Gregureka (koji je već godinama prvi pomoćnik predsjednika Jeana Todta i najviše pozicionirani Hrvat u FIA s tri mandata kao član FIA-ina središnjeg tijela - WMSC-a). Gregurek je ponovno imenovan za koordinatora 14 država Srednjoeuropske zone (SEZ) auto i karting sportova. Europski olimpijski odbori ponovno su izabrali dopredsjednicu HOO-a Moranu Paliković Gruden u odbor zadužen za strategiju i promociju ravnopravnosti spolova; glavnog tajnika HOOa Josipa Čopa ponovno za člana Komisije za okoliš i sport za sve, dok je njegova pomoćnica za pravne i zajedničke poslove
Quarter of a century since Dražen Petrović’s death Foto: VINKO BADROV
organizirano čišćenje podmorja u suradnji s Hrvatskim ronilačkim savezom kao primjer povezivanja športa i ekologije te očuvanja okoliša. Proslavi Olimpijskog Program obuke plivanja na SRC Šalati dana pod motom Ujedinjeni (United By) bile su posvećene i promocije vrijednosti olimpijskog pokreta i športa kao društvene discipline koja umnogome pomaže u izgradnji mirotvorstva, fair odnosa te nacionalne i međunarodne suradnje. Na te teme, dva predavanja održala je voditeljica projekata proslave olimpizma HOA Ana Popovčić. Potporu ovogodišnjoj proslavi Olimpijskog dana dali su zlatna olimpijka iz Rija 2016. u bacanju koplja Sara Kolak, dvostruko srebrni (London i Rio) veslač Damir Martin te srebrni, sedmerostruki olimpijac, stolnotenisač Zoran Primorac.
The Croatian sports family with special emotions and pies recalled on June 7th one of the greatest Croatian and world athletes - triple Olympian Dražen Petrović, who 25 years ago tragically lost his life in a car accident. At the Games he performed as a representative of Yugoslavia in Los Angeles in 1984, winning a bronze medal, and in 1988 won Seoul Silver. With the Croatian national team, with Dražen as the first captain, he won the silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In the world championships he won bronze in Madrid in 1986, and in Buenos Aires in 1990 he was a gold medalist. At the European Championship in 1987, he won bronze in Athens, and in 1989 he won gold medals in Zagreb. Dražen won the highest Olympic honors for his achievements, with Centenary Medal and The Olympic Order being awarded posthumously. On April 29,1995, a monument made by the academic sculptor Vasko Lipovac was unveiled on April 29, 1995, at the invitation of the then president of the IOC, Juana Antonia Samaranch, due to the exceptional merit of world basketball and sports at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. The Basketball House of Celebrities in American Springfield he was received on September 27, 2002. He is the first Croatian basketball player to play in the NBA league and is considered to be the leader of a wave of European basketball players in the world’s strongest league. Since 1989, he has performed for the Portland Trail Blazers and since 1991 he has been a member of the New Jersey Nets until his tragic death. He was awarded the highest Croatian honors, and in Zagreb there is the Museum-Memorial Center Dražen Petrović with a basketball hall bearing his name and with his monument, the work of the academic sculptor Kuzma Kovacic. On October 22, 2011, in Šibenik, where he was born in 1964, bronze Dražen’s casting was unveiled, the work of the academic sculptor Kažimir Hraste. The Croatian Olympic Committee established a prize with his name in 2006. It is awarded to young athletes and teams for outstanding athletic achievements.
Monument to Matija Ljubek unveiled in Belišće On May 5, 2018, in the presence of numerous representatives of state, county and city institutions, KKK Belišće, Ljubek's wife, relatives and friends, the memorial to the most-trophywinning Croatian Olympian - Matija Ljubek was unveiled in Belišće downtown. The canoeist in the typical "Ljubek’s” stroke is the work of the sculptor Borislav Bojanić. Matija Ljubek has won four Olympic medals - gold and bronze at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 in Canoe Single and gold and silver in Los Angeles in 1984 in Double (with Mirko Nišović). The status of one of the most-trophy-winning Croatian athletes was reconfirmed with ten medals from World Championships (four gold, three silver and three bronze medals). As a sports official, he was the head of the Croatian Olympic Mission at the OI in Sydney in 2000. The highest award of the Croatian Olympic Committee's for lifetime achievements
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