Croatia Handball Team’s First Olympic Gold: 30 Years On

The news in Croatian

1. rukometni
   koji se odnosi na rukomet, sport u kojem dvije ekipe igraju s loptom rukama ↩︎
2. reprezentacija  (f.)
   nacionalna momčad koja predstavlja zemlju na međunarodnim natjecanjima ↩︎
3. osvojiti
   dobiti ili zauzeti nešto kao pobjednik, primjerice nagradu ili titulu ↩︎
4. olimpijski
   koji se odnosi na Olimpijske igre, najveće međunarodno sportsko natjecanje ↩︎
5. zlato  (n.)
   prva nagrada na natjecanju, zlatna medalja; također dragocjeni žuti metal ↩︎
6. finale  (n.)
   posljednja i odlučujuća utakmica ili događaj na natjecanju kojim se određuje pobjednik ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: Which country did Croatia beat in the handball final?

Question 2: How many years ago did Croatia win their first Olympic gold medal?

Vocabulary

Croatian	English
rukometni	handball
reprezentacija  (f.)	national team
osvojiti	to win
olimpijski	olympic
zlato  (n.)	gold
finale  (n.)	final

Read the full story

Thirty years ago, Croatia’s handball team claimed the country’s first ever Olympic gold medal, in one of the most celebrated chapters in Croatian sporting history.

The road to gold was far from straightforward. In their opening match against Switzerland, the Croatian side found themselves trailing by as many as six goals at one point, with the score at 13:19, before scraping a narrow 23:22 victory. They then defeated Kuwait 31:22, the United States 35:27, and recorded a historic win over Russia 25:24.

The match against Russia produced one of the tournament’s most memorable moments. With the scores level at 24:24 and a penalty to be taken in the final minute, coach Velimir Kljaić called goalkeeper Valter Matošević aside for a brief word — a deliberate tactic designed to unsettle the Russian penalty taker, Dmitri Torganov. According to the account, Kljaić told Matošević he had no idea how the shot would be taken, and simply told him to do his best. Matošević saved the penalty, and Božidar Jović then scored from nine metres to effectively seal Croatia’s place in the semi-finals.

Kljaić also showed tactical cunning in the final group match against Sweden, resting four of his best players to keep them fresh for the anticipated semi-final against France. He reportedly sensed that France would be an easier opponent than Spain, and was also keen to conceal something from Sweden’s legendary coach Bengt Johansson, should the two sides meet again in the final.

Croatia beat France 24:20 in the semi-finals, while Sweden defeated Spain 25:20 to set up a final between the two sides. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

The gold medal-winning squad was made up of: Venio Losert, Valter Matošević, Patrik Ćavar, Vladimir Jelčić, Irfan Smajlagić, Vladimir Šujster, Slavko Goluža, Goran Perkovac, Valner Franković, Zlatko Saračević, Istok Puc, Zoran Mikulić, Bruno Gudelj, Alvaro Načinović, Božidar Jović and Nenad Kljaić. The coaching staff included Velimir Kljaić, Vlado Nekić, Zdenko Zorko, Vladimir Rončević, Stanislav Peharec, Damir Suman and Josip Guberina.