Dubravko Šimenc (born 2 November 1966) is a former

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

player who competed for both

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and

, and later water polo coach. Dubravko Šimenc's father Zlatko was a water polo player who won the silver medal at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

playing for Yugoslavia, and also a professor at the Faculty of

Kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, Biomechanics, biomechanical, Pathology, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kines ...

. Šimenc's mother was a volleyball player. As a boy, Šimenc played many different sports. He started to play water polo in 1975. Šimenc's first major medal was silver in the 1985 European Championships with Yugoslavia. The following year, his club Mladost won the World Champion title in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He was given the honour to carry the national flag of Croatia at the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, becoming the 20th water polo player to be a

flag bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. He gave support to

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (; born 29 April 1968) is a Croatian politician and diplomat who served as the president of Croatia from 2015 to 2020. She was the first woman to be elected to the office since the first multi-party elections in 1990 ...

at the

2014–15 Croatian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 28 December 2014 and 11 January 2015, the sixth such elections since independence in 1991. Only four candidates contested the elections, the lowest number since 1997 Croatian presidential election, 1 ...

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* * 1966 births Living people Croatian male water polo players Croatian water polo coaches Yugoslav male water polo players Olympic silver medalists for Croatia in water polo Olympic water polo players for Yugoslavia Olympic gold medalists for Yugoslavia Water polo players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Water polo players from Zagreb Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Croatian people of Slovenian descent Croatian expatriate water polo players Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo European Water Polo Championship medalists 21st-century Croatian sportsmen {{Yugoslavia-waterpolo-bio-stub

See also

References

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