Mirna Jukic

Swimmer Mirna Jukic and her family, including her brother Dinko, fled her native Croatia during the War of Independence in 1996. Mirna started swim training under the guidance of her father Željko, a former basketball player. The family moved to Wien (Vienna) in 1999 and received Austrian citizenship the following year. Her mother Mirela became a professor at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb.

Mirna Jukic represented Austria at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics as a breaststroke specialist. She placed seventh in the 200 metres in 2004 and was eliminated in the 100 semi-finals. Four years later she won the 100 metres bronze medal and came an unfortunate fourth in the 200. Her bronze was the first ever individual Olympic medal for an Austrian swimmer and the first for a female swimmer since the 4×100 freestyle relay squad at the 1912 Stockholm Games.

Jukic also won many medals at international championships with two bronze medals at the Worlds (2005 and 2009 over 200 metres), and another bronze at the Short-Course Worlds in 2002, also over 200. At European Short-Course Championships, she won two gold medals (2002 and 2003 over 200 metres), and a further eight silvers and two bronzes. At the Europeans, she added another three golds (2002 and 2004 over 200 metres, and 2008 over 100 metres), plus one silver and two bronzes.

Jukic studied journalism and later worked with the Federal Ministry of Sport in Austria and volunteered for integration projects through sport. She married professional volleyball player Alexander Berger and raised two children. In 2002, 2008, and 2009, she was elected Sportswoman of the Year. She was also awarded the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria in 2003.

Personal Bests: 100 m breaststroke – 1:06.58 (2009); 200 m breaststroke – 2:21.97 (2009).