Sports in Croatia

European Universities Games, Zagreb - Rijeka 2016

European Universities Games, Zagreb - Rijeka 2016, will be already third organised championship of the kind and the greatest multisport event in Europe. The Games were organised for the first time in Spain, in the town of Cordoba in 2012, while the second games took place in 2014 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The host of European Universities Games 2016 was proclaimed on 1 June 2013 in Ljubljana where Zagreb and Rijeka in the last candidature circle beat Coimbra, Portugal and so became proud organisers of this important competition. Croatian delegation was led by Gordan Kožulj, President of the Committee for the candidacy which on the basis of initiated preparations and platforms of the project European Universities Games initiated also important investments into the renewal and building of the student accommodation capacities in Zagreb and Rijeka.

The event will take place between 12 and 25 July 2016 and will be organised by the European University Sports Association (EUSA) and Croatian Universities Sports Association (HASS) with the cooperation of the University of Zagreb, University of Rijeka, the City of Zagreb, the City of Rijeka, and the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia. About 5000 students - sportswomen and sportsmen from more than 350 European universities are expected and the organisation will be supported by the engagement of about 2000 volunteers. The dual organisation is becoming a more and more practiced model for organising sports events and the idea of dualism is deeply integrated also in the visual and verbal identity of the games through the slogan Heart Beliefs –Brain Achieves. The basic idea of the slogan is best described in following words: the „slogan is the basic notion of the unity of heart and brain, two mighty organs characterised as greatly opposed; but only through their cooperation it is possible to achieve correct functioning of human body. The idea of duality and unity of the heart and brain comprises all values of students' sports: education, reasoning, strength, energy, fighting spirit and love – the decisions that help young people achieve excellence in their academic and sports life“.
The program of the European University Games 2016 contains 21 sports and for the first time in the history of student sports competitions fully integrated into the standard sports programme are two sports for disabled persons - swimming and table tennis.
Sports: badminton, basketball, basketball, 3 on 3, handball on sand, bridge, chess, sports climbing, football, futsal, gulf, handball, judo, karate, rowing, rugby, swimming, table tennis, volleyball, water polo, tennis, taekwondo.

Krunoslava Kauzlarić

History of Diving

The oldest data on diving were found on an Etruscan relief found in Targuinia in the 6th century B.C., while the first written documents date from 1538, from the book entitled Colymbetes by V. Wynmann. Diving was at that time mainly practiced from bridges and first competitions mentioned were those which took place in the towns of Constance and Basel. First national competitions in diving were held in Germany in 1986. In Belgrade in 1973 first World Diving Championship was held. Diving was included into the programme of the Olympic Games in 1904 in St. Louis, USA, and has until today remained one of the most attractive Olympic sports.

In the beginning diving was practiced at Olympic Games only from the tower but in the course of time it has developed into various disciplines so today there are springboard diving, tower diving and synchronised diving, which as a completely new, attractive discipline was introduced in Olympic Games in Sydney 2000.

Diving has long tradition in Croatia and is mentioned at the beginning of the 20th century; at that time diving and trainings mainly took place on rivers. First competition in diving was held in 1913 in Split. First written data are in connection with the building of a swimming pool for diving at Sušak, in Rijeka and in connection with the river Korana in Karlovac. First wooden diving platform on the river Korana was constructed in 1930 by the Slovenian engineer Stanko Bloudek who after Second World War became also the president of the Olympic Committee.

A new period for diving in Croatia begins with the building of the concrete tower at Šalata in Zagreb in 1948 and the founding of the club Naprijed, and later also the Swimming-club Medveščak whose members managed to achieve best results at state competitions.

In Croatia today there are diving centres in Rijeka, Split, Zagreb and Zadar, and their competitors achieve high international rankings in Europe and in the world.

Ana Kera, M.Kin