Croatia

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 made its Olympic début at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville and has since competed at every Winter Olympics. Croatia first competed at Barcelona in 1992 where it’s best finish was the silver medal its basketball team won, losing only to the “Dream Team”. Through 2016, Croatian athletes have won 44 Olympic medals, including 15 golds. Of these 33 medals were won in the Summer Olympics, with eleven golds, and 11 in the Winter Olympics, with four golds. The Croatian with the most Olympic medals and gold medals is alpine skier Janica Kostelić, with six medals and four golds from 1998-2006.