Ante Kostelić

Ante Kostelić
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Gips
Nationality	Croatian
Ethnicity	Croat
Born	11 August 1938; Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Residence	Zagreb, Croatia
Alma mater	Faculty of Kinesiology, Zagreb
Occupation	alpine skiing coach, handball coach
Years active	from 1957
Spouse(s)	Marica
Sport
Country	Croatia
Sport	alpine skiing; handball; swimming; car racing
Position	handball circle runner; (pivot, line player) or left winger
Club	ski clubs SK Medveščak and SK Zagreb,; handball clubs RK Polet Zagreb, RK Mladost Zagreb, RK Zagreb, AS Cannes, ŽRK Osijek etc.,; swimming club PK Mladost Zagreb, etc.
Now coaching	Elias Kolega, Samuel Kolega
Achievements and titles
World finals	1981–82 IHF Women's Cup Winners' Cup winner (as ŽRK Osijek head coach); 6 gold + 1 silver + 1 bronze FIS Alpine World Ski Championships medals and; 4 overall FIS Alpine World Cups; (coaching Janica Kostelić and Ivica Kostelić)
Olympic finals	Four gold and six silver Olympic medals (coaching Janica Kostelić and Ivica Kostelić)

Ante Kostelić (born 11 August 1938) is Croatian former handball player and coach, and current ski coach. He is best known for coaching his children, Croatia skiers Janica Kostelić and Ivica Kostelić, who won the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, overall FIS Alpine World Cup and Olympic titles between 2001 and 2014. As head coach of Handball Club ŽRK Osijek he won the 1981–82 IHF Women's Cup Winners' Cup. He has been honoured with numerous awards including the Croatian Olympic Committee's Matija Ljubek Award[1] (2001), Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport[2] (2003) and the Order of Prince Branimir.

Early life

Born in Zagreb, Ante Kostelić attended Grammar school in his home town and later graduated from the Faculty of Kinesiology. He played handball for several clubs in Croatia (then within Yugoslavia), e.g. RK Polet Zagreb, RK Mladost Zagreb, RK Zagreb, as well as in France (AS Cannes). His player positions were circle runner (pivot, line player) or left winger. As an RK Zagreb player, he won the Yugoslav Handball Cup in 1962. He was also active in swimming, skiing and car racing.

Coaching career

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Kostelić coached many handball clubs, including RK Ivanić Ivanić-Grad, RK Medveščak Zagreb, RK Zagreb, RK Partizan Bjelovar, RK Trešnjevka Zagreb, RK Celje, ŽRK Osijek, RK Pelister Bitola and 1. FC Nürnberg Nuremberg. In his coaching career, he first became famous for his triumph in the 1981–82 IHF Women's Cup Winners' Cup as ŽRK Osijek Handball Club head coach. In the final, ŽRK Osijek beat SC Spartacus from Budapest 54:38 on aggregate.

At the beginning of the 1990s he became an alpine skiing coach, starting with the ski clubs SK Medveščak and SK Zagreb. He was known as a very tough and demanding coach and therefore sometimes got into confrontations with other club members or parents of the skiers, who thought he demanded too much from his trainees. Then he took over coaching his children Janica and Ivica), who succeeded at the highest levels of the sport, becoming world alpine ski world champions as well as World Cup and Olympic winners. Together they were awarded four gold and six silver Olympic medals. In April 2017 it was announced that Kostelić would become coach of the Croatian alpine skiers Elias and Samuel Kolega.[3]

Honours and awards

Ante Kostelić has been honoured by the Croatian Olympic Committee (transl. COC, Croatian: HOO) with the Matija Ljubek Award, the highest COC prize, awarded to individuals as a lifetime achievement, in 2001. Two years later he was honoured with the Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport, the highest recognition that Republic of Croatia gives for extraordinary achievements in the field of sport in Croatia. In 2010 he received the Order of Prince Branimir, which is given for excellence in promoting Croatia's international relations. In addition, the Croatian Olympic Committee elected him several times as Croatia's coach of the year (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014).

References

Matija Ljubek Award
Recipients of the Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport in 2003
Beluhan, Renate (20 April 2017). "Ovo Bi Mogla Biti Nova Sjajna Priča Hrvatsjok Sporta - Sportske novosti donose: Kostelić preuzima dva dragulja hrvatskog skijanja i nastavlja karijeru!" [This May Be a New Great of Croatian Sport - Sports news brings: Kostelic takes over two jewels of Croatian skiing and continues his career!]. jutarnji.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 11 January 2019.

External links

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[1] Matija Ljubek Award

[2] Recipients of the Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport in 2003

[3] Beluhan, Renate (20 April 2017). "Ovo Bi Mogla Biti Nova Sjajna Priča Hrvatsjok Sporta - Sportske novosti donose: Kostelić preuzima dva dragulja hrvatskog skijanja i nastavlja karijeru!" [This May Be a New Great of Croatian Sport - Sports news brings: Kostelic takes over two jewels of Croatian skiing and continues his career!]. jutarnji.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 11 January 2019.