Croatia (CRO)

Until the Yugoslavian civil war of 1991 Croatia had never competed at the Olympics as an independent nation. However, prior to 1991, many top Yugoslavian athletes were from Croatia, including several of the top Yugoslavian basketball players. The National Olympic Committee of Croatia was formed in 1991 and provisionally recognized by the Executive Board of the IOC on 17 January 1992. International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted full recognition at the IOC session in Monte Carlo on 24 September 1993. Croatia first competed at the Olympic Games at Barcelona 1992, where it’s best finish was the silver medal its basketball team won, losing only to the “Dream Team”. Through 2022, Croatian athletes have won 52 Olympic medals, including 18 golds. Of these, 41 medals were won at the Summer Olympics, with 14 golds.

At the Summer Olympics, the medal table is led by brothers Martin and Valent Sinković who, together, won silver in 2012, and gold in 2016 and 2020, always competing in different rowing classes. Two other Croatians have also won three medals: handballer Venio Losert won gold in 1996 and 2000, and bronze in 2012; and rower Damir Martin won silver with the Sinković brothers in 2012, and silver and bronze in the single sculls event in 2016 and 2020, respectively.

Croatia made its Olympic début at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville and has since competed at every Olympic Winter Games. Their athletes have appeared in nine disciplines – Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, figure skating, luge, short-track speed skating, skeleton, and snowboarding.

Croatia has won 11 Winter Olympic medals, with four golds. All the gold medals, and six medals overall, have been won by Alpine skier Janica Kostelić, who is the most successful Croatian Olympian, Winter or Summer. Her brother, Ivica Kostelić, contributed four silver medals in Alpine skiing, giving the Kostelić family 10 of Croatia’s 11 Winter Olympic medals. The other was a bronze medal won by Jakov Fak in the 2010 biathlon 10-kilometre event.