Hobbies
Following other sports. (24sata YouTube channel, 15 Oct 2019)
Occupation
Armed Forces, Athlete, Student
Education
Mechanical Engineering - University of Zagreb: Croatia
Spoken languages
Croatian, English
Club
ZTD Hrvatski Sokol: Zagreb, CRO
Coach
Lucijan Krce [club], CRO
Injuries
A shoulder injury forced him to withdraw from the horizontal bar final at the 2022 World Cup event in Doha, Qatar. (gymnastics.sport, 07 Mar 2022)
In July 2018 he injured his left shoulder while training, and tore a rib muscle during his recovery. (thegymter.net, 07 Apr 2020; fig-gymnastics.com, 25 Oct 2018)
He sustained an elbow injury at age 13 and needed a year and a half to recover. (fig-gymnastics.com, 23 May 2018)
At age six he broke two bones in his right arm during training. (Vecernji List, 21 May 2017)
Start sporting career
He took up gymnastics at age four at the ZTD Hrvatski Sokol club in Zagreb, Croatia.
Reason for taking up the sport
His father encouraged him to take up the sport. "My father wanted me to sign up to football, but they told me that I was too short. He knew a gymnastics coach, so I gave it a try and liked it."
Milestones
He became the first artistic gymnast representing Croatia to win a gold medal at the world championships by claiming the horizontal bar title at the 2017 edition of the tournament in Montreal, QC, Canada. (SportsDeskOnline, 27 Oct 2017; fig-gymnastics.com, 09 Oct 2017)
Most memorable sporting achievement
Winning silver on horizontal bar at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (intlgymnast.com, 02 Sep 2021)
Hero / Idol
Croatian artistic gymnast Marijo Moznik. (24sata YouTube channel, 15 Oct 2019)
Awards
He was named the 2021 Best Gymnast by the Croatian Gymnastics Federation. (vecernji.hr, 17 Dec 2021)
He was named the 2019 Male Athlete of the Year in Zagreb, Croatia, by the Sports Association of the City of Zagreb. (hr.n1info.com, 16 Dec 2019)
In 2017 and 2019 he was named Male Athlete of the Year by Croatian sports newspaper Sportske Novosti. (prigorski.hr, 29 Dec 2019; fig-gymnastics.com, 23 May 2018)
Additional information
OVERCOMING FEAR
He suffered a double arm fracture at age six, and as a result he developed a fear of horizontal bar. However, after injuring his elbow at age 13, for a period it was the only apparatus he could use so horizontal bar became his main focus. "When I came back [from the first injury], I had a big fear of horizontal bar. I needed quite a bit of time to get rid of that fear. [After the second injury] I had really bad pain for a year and a half and I couldn't do all the other stuff, but for some reason I could do the horizontal bar. It was the only time where I felt less pain." (fig-gymnastics.com, 23 May 2018)
Last update : 2024-07-22
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