24. Welcome to Dubrovnik - Turistička zajednica grada Dubrovnika

y Tonči Vlašić
explain the fact that more than a half of
the team - who steadily marched from
day to day towards the throne, reached
the “holy” goal and won the Olympic
gold - come from a single City, and from
one swimming pool, the Gruž pool.
Both Dubrovnik and its people are
proud of this magnificent success of
Croatian sport. No other success in
the past has filled them with such
enthusiasm, because - out of the thirteen
players – seven came from their own
City, while the right-hand man to Ratko
Rudić, the world’s most successful
water-polo coach, also comes from Gruž.
It is thus not surprising that on Monday,
13 August - after the Croatian national
water-polo team’s magnificent success at
the Olympic Games in London, winning
victory in the final against Italy - the
entire City came to the Stradun. It
came to pay respect to its children and
to a rarely seen success in the world
of sport: no less than eight water-polo
players from this small City reached the
Olympic throne: Miho Bošković, Andro
Bušlje, Nikša Dobud, Maro Joković,
Paulo Obradović, Sandro Sukno, Frano
Vićan, and the national team’s assistant
coach Elvis Fatović.
In view of the importance of Dubrovnik
water-polo in the world, things couldn’t
have turned out any other way. Garber
was right in claiming that “everything
falls into place eventually”.
Paraolimpijska
bronza
Dubrovnik je jedan od rijetkih
gradova svijeta koji je imao svoje
sportaše na pobjedničkom postolju
Olimpijskih i Paraolimpijskih igara
u Londonu. Naime, osim sedmorice,
koji su s hrvatskom vaterpolskom
reprezentacijom osvojili zlatnu medalju
na Olimpijskim igrama (osmi je bio
pomoćni trener reprezentacije), medalju,
i to brončanu na Paraolimpijskim igrama
osvojio je Dubrovčanin Mihovil Španja.
Najbolji hrvatski plivač s invaliditetom,
kojeg su sugrađani također dočekali
na Stradunu nakon povratka s Igara
u Londonu, u karijeri je osvojio 26
medalja na velikim natjecanjima, a 16
puta je obarao svjetske rekorde. Na
Paralimpijskim igrama Španja je osvojio
ukupno četiri medalje, i sve četiri su
istog, brončanog sjaja. Do prve tri bronce
doplivao je na Paraolimpijskim igrama u
Ateni 2004. godine.
The
Paralympic
Bronze Medal
Dubrovnik is one of the rare cities
in the world whose athletes have
stood on the winners podium at both
the Olympic and Paralympic Games in
London. Namely, in addition to the seven
men who - together with the Croatian
national water-polo team - won a gold
medal at the Olympic Games (the eighth
man was the national team’s assistant
coach), a man from Dubrovnik Mihovil
Španja won a bronze medal at the
Paralympic Games.
Croatia’s best swimmer with a disability,
whom his fellow-citizens also welcomed
in the Stradun after his return from
the Paralympic Games in London, has
in his career won 26 medals in major
competitions, and has broken 16 world
records. Španja has won four medals all
together at Paralympic Games, all of
which have had the same bronze hue.
He swam to his first three bronze medals
at the Paralympic Games in Athens, in
2004.
Winter 2012/13
Welcome to Dubrovnik 59