Croatia
Notable people from Croatia
(in chronological order by date of birth)
Diokletian — Caesar
? - 313
Somewhere between 236 and 245 the later emperor Diocletian was born near present-day Split. He joined the Roman army, worked his way up quickly and skilfully and was appointed emperor in 184. Once those who envied and rivalled him had been removed from his path more or less subtly, the ruler turned to the problems of his empire: to consolidate its power he divided administrative authority between two senior and two junior emperors and withdrew himself into the eastern part. There he began building Diocletian's Palace, out of which over the years the town of Split was to grow. In the year 305 Diocletian laid down his office voluntarily and retired into his palace - possibly because he, the cool tactician, could thus escape the violent death otherwise typical of Caesars.
Kralj Tomislav — king
? - 928
Little is known of the early years of the first Croatian king. Only from 924, the year of his appointment as head of state, does he appear in public. During his short reign Croatia and Dalmatia are united into one realm for the first time and successfully defended against the Magyars' attempts at conquest. He established a considerable army and allied himself with Byzantium. One of his last projects was to reform the Roman Catholic church, with the help of the bishop of Nin, into a religion closer to the people. Shortly after this had failed against the resistance of the new pope, Tomislav disappeared and was soon afterwards declared dead, without the exact circumstances ever being clarified. In Croatian history he holds the place of an extremely ambitious and popular politician.
Marco Polo — seafarer
1254 - 1324
The son of a Dalmatian merchant family grew up in Venice and was schooled in seafaring by his father and uncle from childhood on. At the age of only seventeen Marco Polo took part in an expedition himself for the first time, which led him to Asia, to the Holy Land and finally to China. The travel accounts that Polo wrote during this time made him famous right into our own day, yet in recent years ever more experts have been doubting the truth content of the events described in them. Twenty-four years and countless adventures after his departure from Venice, Marco Polo finally returned to his home city. In the period that followed he founded a family, worked as a fleet commander and in the meantime fell into Genoese captivity. Even on his deathbed Polo insisted on the truth content of his stories, which in the following centuries were translated into several languages and found a great response both among scholars and among "private" readers.
Hl. Nikola Tavelic — Franciscan
1340 - 1391
Instead of enjoying a comfortable life within his noble family, Nikola Tavelić went to Bribir and entered the Franciscan order. He was ordained a priest and in 1372, on account of his rhetorical skill and firm faith, sent out as a missionary for the first time. At first he was active in Bosnia and among the Bogomils, but was then transferred to Jerusalem. There he believed he could convert even the qadi, who took this as a great affront. Tavelić and his companions were condemned to death and in 1391 torn to pieces at the Jaffa Gate and then burnt. This martyr's death and his earlier successes in missionary work were reason enough to erect a church in his honour on the Mount of Olives, for Pope Paul VI to canonise him.
Marin Drzic — writer
1508 - 1567
In his early years Marin Držić had to complete a training for the priesthood that did no justice to his creative talent. So he used the move from Dubrovnik to Siena to unfold his passion for writing. He organised illegal theatre evenings at which friends performed his plays. Since these performances had to take place in secret, quite a few of his comedies and pastoral plays were never printed. When Držić returned to Dubrovnik he no longer needed to hide but even received a good fee for most of his works, some of which were written bilingually and unfold their comedy through the discrepancy between noble and peasant, old and young, frivolous and dutiful characters.
Matija Gubec — leader of the peasants' revolt
1538 - 1573
The leader of the peasant revolt, born Ambroz Gubec, is revered in Croatia as a national hero. He had taken a law forbidding peasants to move about freely as the occasion to protest against the policies of the landlords and counts. With thousands of like-minded men Gubec marched through the villages and at first could not be stopped even by the king's army. Instead the rebels were declared high traitors, by which they could be condemned, in accordance with the law then in force, to a particularly cruel death. Matija Gubec was maltreated with red-hot tongs, mocked with a red-hot crown and then quartered.
Faust Vrancic — inventor
1551 - 1617
One of the most colourful figures of Croatian history is the scholar and adventurer Faust Vrančić: the man from Šibenik, who became a bishop in Italy, not only wrote treatises on logic and ethics but was also the first to compile a five-language dictionary. Yet Vrančić had another side too: he was the first person to fly with a parachute, when in 1617 he jumped from Venice's bell tower with a self-built contraption. That this date coincides with the year of his death is, however, owed to coincidence and not to faulty calculations!
Bartol Kasic — scholar of scripture
1575 - 1650
Bartol Kašić, a native of Pag who had lost one parent, joined the Jesuit order in Rome at the age of 20. Abroad too he occupied himself intensely with his homeland, studied the Croatian language and single-handedly worked out a Croatian-Italian dictionary. He then translated the New Testament, which however for reasons of church politics was never printed. Reprints of Kašić's manuscripts, on the other hand, survive to this day and were in part still in use until 1929. In his later years the monk undertook several extended missionary journeys before returning to Rome for good in 1635 and devoting himself to books again. Apart from his work in the clerical context, he distinguished himself above all as the author of an authoritative Croatian grammar, published in 1604.
Ivan Gundulic — poet
1588 – 1638
Gundulić counts as the most important and most talented writer of the Baroque in Croatia. Alongside his work in the senate and small council of the city of Dubrovnik he created numerous poems, dramas and tales, influenced by his study of philosophy and Italian literature. Although he wrote in Croatian, he managed to reproduce the melody of Italian, and so his manner of writing seems accomplished both in style and in sound, and was often copied but never matched. His most important works are the pastoral Dubravka and the volume of verse "The Tears of the Prodigal Son". The significance of Gundulić for the culture and history of his homeland can also be measured by the fact that his likeness graces the 50-kuna note.
Ruder Josip Boskovic — scientist
1711 - 1787
Out of love for scholarship the young Ruđer Josip Bošković chose the path of the Jesuits, so as to be able to devote himself to books all his life. Through his occupation with mathematics, astronomy, mechanics, meteorology, physics, philosophy and geology he developed into one of the last universal scholars of Europe. He directed an observatory, wrote about atoms and inspired later-born scientists and discoverers who on the basis of his reflections were able to explain the properties of matter. Beyond his publications he also passed his knowledge on directly as a professor in Rome, Pavia and Milan.
Ivan Lupis-Vukic — engineer
1813 - 1875
After his schooling, Lupis-Vukić, born in Rijeka, went to Venice, where he entered the naval academy and took the name Giovanni Luppis. Since he considered the existing torpedoes inadequate, he developed a new kind that could be steered from land and whose charge was detonated only by contact with the enemy ship. This invention, which cost many people their lives, was for that very reason gratefully received by Emperor Franz Joseph and earned Luppis the epithet "saviour of the coast". Luppis himself died in Milan in 1875.
David Schwartz — engineer
1850 - 1897
After Schwartz's death his widow received visits from a gentleman who was to become famous with her husband's invention: Count Zeppelin. About a decade earlier the timber merchant Schwartz had begun to engage intensively with the design of a rigid airship. Inspired by Aristotle and books on mechanics he threw himself into his new project and reaped above all derision for it. Even the generally interested war minister in Vienna would provide no money for its realisation. Only in 1893 was the first model built, in Russia, with which however there were no documented flight attempts. Those were to take place only in 1897 in Germany - the news just reached Schwartz himself before he succumbed to a sudden haemorrhage while travelling.
Nikola Tesla — physicist
1856 - 1943
Nikola Tesla, born in Smiljan, studied from 1876 at various universities in Graz, Prague and Budapest, where the idea came to him of building electric motors. In 1882 he moved to Paris, soon afterwards to New York. In both cities he worked for a company of Thomas Edison's, but soon saw no more room there for his visions. So he moved to Westinghouse and developed alternating-current motors of the kind used worldwide today for lighting and medical technology. Tesla's inventions are so far-reaching that today the unit of magnetic flux density is named after him.
Andrija Mohorovicic — meteorologist
1857 - 1936
In 1909 Mohorovičić was the first to succeed in determining the dividing line between the earth's crust and the earth's mantle. Before that he had studied mathematics and physics and worked as a teacher. Thanks to his own meteorological observation station he was even able to take a doctorate in that subject in 1892. From then on he occupied himself chiefly with seismology - the study and prediction of earthquakes. In analysing one quake he noticed irregularities from which he derived his great insight. In his honour the dividing surface has since been called the "Mohorovičić discontinuity" - though in practical use it is also readily shortened to "Moho".
Ivan Vucetic — discoverer
1858 - 1925
Born on the tranquil island of Hvar, the inquisitive Ivan Vučetić was soon drawn out into the world, and so after completing his apprenticeship he landed in far-off Argentina. Here he worked for the police and was entrusted with identifying the perpetrators of crimes. He was the first to notice that the fingerprints of two people are never the same, and so he developed the method of icnofalangometry, later called dactyloscopy - also known as the system of identification by fingerprint. Since 1896, following Argentina, more and more countries have introduced this principle for the gathering of evidence, and the police academy of La Plata is still called "Escuela de policia Juan Vucatich" today.
Hl. Leopold Mandic — confessor
1866 - 1942
The youngest of the twelve children of the Mandić family entered the Franciscan order at the age of only 16 and moved from his home village of Hercog Novi to Udine. Mandić received his religious name "Leopold" in the year 1884 and at first devoted his life to the study of philosophy. Little by little he became the region's most popular confessor; for up to 15 hours a day he listened to sinners and gave them consolation. It is recorded that Mandić received the stigmata and possessed clairvoyant powers. In 1976 he was beatified, in 1983 canonised.
Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, engineer and inventor
1871 - 1922
The "improver of the world" Penkala was able to register 80 patents in the course of his life. Among them were improvements to existing products such as hot-water bottles and rotating toothbrushes, but also innovations like the forerunner of today's ballpoint pen. In this the Slovak of Dutch-Polish descent was helped by his study of chemistry, but above all by his pronounced inventive spirit. He even succeeded in designing an aeroplane himself and taking off in it near Zagreb - though in this project he was narrowly overtaken by the famous Wright brothers. Barely a decade later Penkala died unexpectedly of pneumonia.
Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic — writer
1874 - 1938
Croatia's most famous teller of fairy tales was born in Ogulin into a family in which numerous male members had already achieved fame as politicians, authors and jurists. Accordingly, value was placed on a good education for the girl: she spoke four languages fluently and from earliest youth was drawn into cultural life. In 1883 she tried her hand at a work of her own for the first time; of those that followed, many were published in as many as fifteen languages. Despite the genre of "children's stories" readily ascribed to her, Brlić-Mažuranić was also recognised among "serious" writers. Thus in 1937 she became the first woman reporting member of today's HAZU.
Vladimir Nazor — writer and partisan
1876 - 1949
Growing up in Postira on Brac, Nazor was able to experience political events at first hand from an early age, since his father worked there as an administrative official. He himself was at first drawn in another direction: he worked as a teacher in Split, as a senior teacher in Zadar and other towns, and finally ran a children's home in Crikvenica. Long after his retirement he discovered his political commitment after all and joined Tito's partisans at the age of 64, and after the end of the Second World War was appointed chairman of the Croatian parliament. Ever since the end of his studies Nazor had continuously written and published works of fiction. In his poems and novels he works by preference with Croatian history and its legends.
Ivan Mestrovic — sculptor and architect
1883 - 1962
Perhaps it is down to the extraordinary circumstances in which Ivan Meštrović first saw the light of day that he became such an extraordinary architect and sculptor. Of all places at a village railway station, whose aesthetic value one can well imagine but does not necessarily want to, his mother had to deliver him. He spent his childhood in Otavince, studied in Vienna, lived in Paris and taught in the USA. His work comprises numerous reliefs, fountains and mausoleums as well as the House of Croatian Art in Zagreb, in which his clear lines and airy surfaces can be seen at their most typical.
Lavoslav Ruzicka — Nobel laureate in chemistry
1887 - 1976
Ružička, born in Vukovar, began his study of chemistry in Karlsruhe in 1906 and took his doctorate in the same place in 1910. After his doctoral supervisor had accepted a new post in Zurich, Ružička moved there too and devoted himself to the research for his habilitation. He worked in the field of organic chemistry together with perfume manufacturers and so combined scientific ambition with financial necessity. By way of Geneva, Ružička moved to Basel in 1938. Here he was still working in 1950 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
Besides chemistry his interest lay above all in art and in politics. He campaigned against nuclear weapons and donated several paintings to the Kunsthaus Zürich.
Ivo Andric — Nobel laureate in literature
1892 - 1975
His parents, Catholic craftsmen from the poorest circumstances, managed with enormous effort to let their Ivo Andrić study at the universities of Zagreb, Vienna, Kraków and Graz. Schooled in philosophy, history and Slavic studies, Andrić founded the literary journal Književni jug in 1918 and was also active on political ground: he was a member of the Zagreb National Council and found the time "on the side" to take a doctorate as well. Although in the 1940s he had the opportunity to leave for Switzerland unhindered, he preferred to spend the war years in Belgrade. There he worked on the novels for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1961.
Josip Broz Tito — politician
1892 - 1980
The young Tito joined the socialist party in 1910, to whose orientation he was to remain faithful and committed his whole life long. As a locksmith and metalworker he had the opportunity to travel in south-eastern Europe before he was conscripted in the First World War. By now a member of the illegal Communist Party of Yugoslavia, he was arrested several times between 1928 and 1934, among other reasons for that - but he had also let himself in for counterfeiting money and raids. Yet it was precisely this lack of respect for authority and the law that on the other hand made it possible for Tito to rise in the years of the Second World War to become a successful partisan leader, and to be supported in his resistance by the Allies. After the war he became prime minister and worked primarily for Croatia to maintain independent relations with the western countries. Until his death Tito was head of state. His life was filmed under the title "The Fifth Offensive".
Miroslav Krleza — writer
1893 - 1981
Krleža's genius was noticed as early as his youth, and so he received a scholarship for the military academy in Budapest. In the First World War he served in the Austro-Hungarian army but returned to Zagreb while the war years were still running. In 1919 he brought the literary journal Plamen into being and beyond that directed the "Literary Republic" until 1927. Over the years "Today", "The Seal", "Republika" and finally "Forum" were added. In parallel he repeatedly came into conflict with his country: now his passport was taken from him, now he was suspected of being a spy.
As an artist Krleža became famous above all for his anti-war literature, which tended towards communism. "The Croatian God Mars" and "The Return of Filip Latinovicz" are only two of his more than 50 monographs.
Alojzije Stepinac — blessed bishop
1898 - 1960
The later archbishop and cardinal came to his vocation relatively late: at first Stepinac completed his military service, attended an agricultural school and occupied himself with agrarian science. Only the move to the Pontifical Gregorian University steered his life into new channels. In 1930 he was ordained a priest and in 1934 made a bishop. Twelve years later he was accused, in a spectacular trial, of having supported the war crimes of the Ustaša, and Stepinac was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment. The Vatican criticised the trial even at the time, and in 1993 Pope John Paul beatified Alojzije Stepinac.
Vladimir Prelog — Nobel laureate in chemistry
1906 - 1998
After only 5 years of study Prelog took his doctorate in chemistry at the Technical University of Prague in 1929, but at first had no opportunity to carry out research of his own. Only after moving to Zurich in 1941 did he work practically. Until 1957 he made his career in Zurich - rising from assistant to head of the institute's laboratory - and devoted himself increasingly to fundamental research in chemistry. For his insights into the stereoisomerism of organic molecules he received the Nobel Prize in 1975 - a year before his retirement. Colleagues describe Vladimir Prelog as a humorous man who lived extremely healthily. All his life he did without cigarettes and cars, but devoted all the more time to his wife Kamila Vitek and his son Jan.
Ivan Goran Kovacic — poet
1913 - 1943
The short life of Ivan Goran Kovačić from Gorski Kotar seems dogged by misfortune: after the death of his father the family lives in bitter poverty, Kovačić cannot finish his studies in Zagreb, loses his first permanent post because of a lung disease, and the newspaper where he is next allowed to work as an editor is shut down in 1941. When Kovačić finally joins the partisans, he survives only a few months. His grave is unknown, but his portrayals of the people and conditions around him outlive him to this day. Pablo Picasso stated that he had been inspired by Kovačić's work, and in 1993 a postage stamp was even dedicated to him.
Ivan Generalic — painter
1914 - 1992
The painter and draughtsman Ivan Generalić was first exhibited at the age of 17. Even so it took until 1953 to make the "naive" painter known beyond Croatia's borders: in that year he was exhibited in Paris, and shows in São Paulo and Brussels followed. He counts as the most significant painter of his craft in all of Croatia and one of the most important worldwide. The founding of the school of Hlebine is ascribed to him, whose members take their inspiration from the master's style. Beyond that Generalić also left his fans and admirers the autobiography "My Life, My Pictures".
Franjo Kuharic — cardinal
1919 - 2002
The son of a farmer grew up with his twelve older siblings in the village of Gornji Pribić. To escape poverty that pressed too hard, Franjo "fled" into the walls of a monastery and was ordained a priest in 1945. He worked as a chaplain in Radoboj, led the parishes of Rakov Potok and Sveti Martin pod Okićem before moving to Samobor as parish priest. In 1964 he was made a bishop and from then on lived and worked in Zagreb. In 1997 he asked to be allowed to lay down his office on account of his great age, which was granted to him.
Besides his clerical duties he was occupied by a great thirst for knowledge, so that Kuharić did research as an honorary academician at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Edo Murtic — artist
1921 - 2005
Murtić spent his childhood and youth in the cosmopolitan flair of Zagreb, where after his regular schooling he attended a craft school. In 1939 he moved to the Academy of Fine Arts, where he soon earned a reputation as a master pupil. At first, during the war years, Murtić used his talent for political, anti-fascist graphic work, published on posters and in books. In the more peaceful period he managed the change to abstract expressionism. His works have been made known to the public in 300 international exhibitions, and numerous collectors keep driving the value of his prints and paintings higher.
Franjo Tudman — politician
1922 - 1999
The former and first president of today's Croatia was born in Veliko Trgovišće and was politically shaped already in childhood by his father, a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party. He himself first studied at the military academy, earned his doctorate and professorship with works on the workers' movement in Croatia and was also made an honorary doctor by other universities. At the first free elections in 1990 Tuđman was elected president. He worked above all for the free market economy and the development of the democratic system. The controversial statesman held the office until his death, after which the phase of Croatia's liberalisation could finally really begin.
Ivo Robic — pop musician
1926 - 2000
Even if you would not necessarily guess it from his light melodies, the schlager singer Ivo Robić completed a classical musical training on piano, saxophone, flute, clarinet and double bass before he dared to go on stage with his first band. Smaller appearances in Yugoslavia and the GDR gave him the necessary routine before he was also placed in the charts in England and the USA in 1959. Among his more than 100 released songs there are, besides schlagers, jazz pieces too.
Vlado Gotovac — politician and poet
1930 - 2000
Gotovac became known as a critic of the regime of communist Croatia. The socialists reviled him as a nationalist; he himself saw himself as an advocate of the democratic idea. His influence grew when in 1990 he became director of Croatian television, and in 1991 he delivered a speech before mothers of soldiers of the Yugoslav People's Army which today counts as the high point of his political as well as his rhetorical work.
Dragutin Surbek — table tennis
1946 -
In the course of his career Dragutin Šurbek had the opportunity to step up to the table for two national teams: in the 1960s he began playing for Yugoslavia, in the 1980s he competed for Croatia. The exceptional sportsman, who won the title of European champion in the men's singles in 1968 and was for a time also active in the German Bundesliga, is marked by an extremely offensive style of play that drove many of his opponents to despair. The one who could profit from it most was his son, who for a few years played alongside his father for the Croatian team, until Dragutin Šurbek ended his active career.
Mate Parlov — boxer
1948 -
In the years 1967 to 1974 the amateur boxer Parlov won just about every national title he was allowed to fight for: eight times he became Yugoslav champion, five times Balkan champion, and in between he moved from middleweight to light heavyweight. In 1972 his career reached its first high point when he won gold at the Olympic Games in Munich. He then became winner of the amateur world championship in 1974 and later repeated this success at two amateur and three professional European championships. In 1978 he finally became world champion of his class in his professional career too, but afterwards did not find his way back to top form. In 1980 he ended his career after a few unlucky defeats.
Ivo Pogorelich — pianist
1958 -
Legend has it that Pogorelich took part in the renowned Chopin competition at just 20 years of age and - when he was dismissed from the stage after the third round - one member of the jury flew into such a rage over this decision that she stormed out of the room with the words: "He is a genius!"
The great concert houses saw it the same way in the 1980s, and Pogorelich travelled around the world from performance to performance. He also initiated a festival for the promotion of young artists, which takes place annually and offers the coming generation a stage - and, one hopes, gives the best among them the encouragement as early as he himself was denied it.
Branka Batinic — table tennis
1958 -
The 42-time Croatian and 22-time Yugoslav table tennis champion began professional sports training at the age of only 8 and moved to Zagreb before coming of age, to be developed further in the renowned club Marathon Zagreb according to her talent. Later she transferred to the first-division club Mladost. During this period she took part in several world championships and in 1981 even won bronze in the doubles, and in 2006 she took gold in her age class in singles and doubles. Apart from the tournaments, Batinić has been active as a coach in Germany since 1998, but also supports the development of table tennis in Kenya, Trinidad and Jordan.
Drazen Petrovic — basketball
1964 - 1993
The "Mozart of the parquet" was born in Šibenik and a swift 15 years later was already playing basketball in Croatia's national team. Foreign clubs fought over the 1.96 m tall shooting guard, but Petrović stayed true to his homeland and first signed with Cibona Zagreb, then joined several European clubs and finally moved to the US American NBA. All told he became world and European champion, received the title of best European basketball player four times and was admitted to the Basketball Hall of Fame - an honour granted to no other European. In June 1993 Petrović died unexpectedly in a car accident.
Toni Kukoc — basketball
1968 -
As a youngster Kukoč actively played table tennis and even became national champion of his age class, but soon exchanged the ping-pong balls for basketballs. The exceptional player, who was named "Europe's basketballer of the year" five times, moved to the NBA in 1993 to support the Chicago Bulls. In the course of his career his teams won at three European and one world championship, came second at the 1988 Olympics and reached the final in 1992. Kukoč last played for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Davor Šuker — football
1968 -
The footballer Šuker, who comes from Osijek, received the top scorer's title at the U-20 World Cup in Chile as early as 1987. He earned the same distinction two years later at the club of his home town and soon afterwards transferred to Dinamo Zagreb. In 1991 he was poached by FC Sevilla. In 1998 he became top scorer for the third time, this time at the World Cup in France. Šuker then moved on to England and Germany, but could no longer match his earlier successes. In 2003 he announced that he no longer wished to be active in professional sport.
Zeljko Mavrovic — boxing
1969 -
"Zed" Mavrovic, the Croatian national champion in the heavyweight division, had to take a number of defeats at the beginning of his career - though at a high level: he took part in Olympic Games and European championships, but could never be celebrated on the winners' podium. Only in 1995 did he fight his way to the title of best boxer in Europe and kept it straight away for several years. After a defeat in the fight for the world championship title he became so ill that in the year 2000 he had to withdraw from boxing and has since preferred to devote himself to his organic farm in Pozega. He only sees the ring any more when he comments on fights by his former colleagues for Croatian television. His analyses are very popular in Croatia, since on the one hand the expertise of his own sporting experience serves him well, and on the other an eloquent way of expressing himself - after all, in his active years he was the only heavyweight with a school-leaving certificate!
Goran Ivanisevic — tennis
1971 -
At just 18 years of age Goran Ivanišević took part in a Wimbledon tournament for the first time, reaching the semi-final. A year later he even made it into the final, and in 2001 he became winner of the Grand Slam - an event that brought further popularity to tennis, already popular in Croatia, and made Ivanišević an idol for the population. Nothing could change that, neither his less than optimal play at the Wimbledon tournament of 2004, where he had to leave the court after the third round, nor the fact that he has earned a dubious reputation for his particularly coarse language, which was always deployed after a lost rally.
Goran Višnjic — actor
1972 -
The actor, born in Šibenik, first stood in front of a camera at the age of 9. He spent his youth on several small projects, which were however little noticed by the public. At 21 he took part in the film "Hamlet" and in the following years became ever more famous in Hollywood too: he played alongside Nicole Kidman and has become indispensable to the television series "Emergency Room". Accordingly he received an award as best Croatian actor three times. Beyond that Višnjić is a family man and an active member of the animal protection organisation PETA.
Janica Kostelic — alpine skiing
1982 -
A knee injury at the age of 19 almost meant the end of the career of the ski racer Janica Kostelić - before it had even begun. For only a year after the operations, at the 2002 Winter Games, she managed to win three golds and one silver. Four years later she continued the run of success with another gold and silver medal each, after in the meantime also taking a world championship title on the side. That makes Kostelić the most successful ski racer in the history of the Olympics. In spring 2007 the exceptional sportswoman, just 25 years old, retired for good - at least as far as professional skiing is concerned.
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