Žarko Dolinar

Žarko Dolinar
Žarko Dolinar at the 1955 World Championships
Personal information
Nationality  Yugoslavia
Born 3 July 1920
Koprivnica, Yugoslavia
Died 9 March 2003 (aged 82)
Basel, Switzerland

Žarko Dolinar (3 July 1920 – 9 March 2003), Ph.D., was a biologist and table tennis player who won eight medals at the World Table Tennis Championships.[1]

He was born in a family of Slovene economic immigrants to Croatia.[2] In 1939, at the age of 18 he became the national champion of Yugoslavia.[3] Dolinar was champion of the Independent State of Croatia multiple times, and also competed for its national team on nine occasions.[4]

He also won three English Open titles.

Dolinar is the only world sporting champion with a doctoral degree in biology.[5] He graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1949, and received a doctorate in 1959.[6] He was world doubles champion with his partner, Vilim Harangozo. Dolinar was also head of the Sports Science Committee for the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

A university professor in both Zagreb and Basel, he was honored as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for saving, together with his brother Boris, about 300 Jews during World War II.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "DOLINAR Zarko (YUG) " Archived 16 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine.. ITTF Database
  2. ↑ Vera Krzisnik Bukic (2006). "Znameniti Slovenci na Hrvaškem skozi zgodovino". CEEOL Migration and Ethnic Themes. 22 (4): 421–445.
  3. ↑ Povijest hrvatskog stolnog tenisa (History of Croatian Table Tennis). hsts.hr
  4. ↑ "ŽARKO DOLINAR. 1920 – 2003" (PDF). društvene obavijesti. 93/94: 11. 2003.
  5. ↑ "Sports in Croatia", by Darko Žubrinić, 1995
  6. ↑ "U 83. godini umro Žarko Dolinar, slavni stolnotenisač i znanstvenik". index.hr
  7. ↑ Darko Zubrinic (1997) "Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac and saving the Jews in Croatia during the WW2". www.hr
Awards
Preceded by
Perica Vlašić		 Yugoslav Sportsman of the Year
1954		 Succeeded by
Bernard Vukas
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