The Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO) organised the annual ceremony “Great Day of Croatian Sport” with awards for the most successful athletes and coaches of the past year, celebrating at the same time,  the 30 years anniversary . Τhe Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković attended the event together with the HOO President Zlatko Mateša and the Secretary General Siniša Krajač.

HOO’s Female Athlete of the Year 2023 had two winners: World champion in taekwondo (46 kg) Lena Stojkovic and world bronze medallist and European bronze in judo (70 kg) Barbara Matić.

Stojkovic had an excellent year, winning two major tournaments – the World Taekwondo Championships in Baku and the European Games in Malopolska.

Matic came to Doha as the back-to-back World Judo champion, but lost her semi-final bout to eventual champion Saki Nizoe. Her year 2023 was not as perfect as 2022, but she did manage to win bronze medals at both the World and European Championships.

The most successful athlete is Giovanni Cernogoraz (archery) and the most successful teams are the women karate national team and the men’s national football team.

The full list of the winners:

Τhe most successful female athlete:

Barbara Matić – judo

Lena Stojković – taekwondo

Τhe most successful male athlete:

Giovanni Cernogoraz – archery

Τhe most successful women’s team:

Karate national team (Sadea Bećirović, Lucija Lesjak, Lea Vukoja, Nikolina Golomboš and Mia Greta Zorko)

Τhe most successful men’s team:

National football team

Τhe most successful pair, relay or crew:

Valent Sinković and Martin Sinković – rowing

Τhe most successful coach:

Valter Cernogoraz – archery

Fair Play award:

Dino Bošnjak – athletics