Miljenko Rak (born 20 September 1947) is a Croatian former long-jumper and fitness trainer. He had worked as the trainer with Olympic gold medal-winning skier,

Janica Kostelić Janica Kostelić (; born 5 January 1982) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and four-time Olympic gold medalist from Croatia. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she w ...

, and football manager,

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown c ...

. He is currently fitness coach in

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

and the

Croatia men's national handball team The Croatia national handball team represents Croatia in international men's team handball competitions and friendly matches. The handball team is controlled by the Croatian Handball Federation (HRS). Croatia has often ...

. Rak was the fitness coach for the Croatia national handball team that won the gold medal at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Having studied for a degree is physical education at

University of Novi Sad The University of Novi Sad ( sr, Универзитет у Новом Саду, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu; hu, Újvidéki Egyetem) is a List of universities in Serbia, public university in Novi Sad, Serbia. Alongside nationally prestigious Unive ...

, competing for

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

, as a long-jumper he took part in the

1967 Mediterranean Games The 1967 Mediterranean Games, officially known as the V Mediterranean Games, and commonly known as Tunis 1967, were the 5th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Tunis, Tunisia over 9 days, from 8 to 17 September 1967, where 1,249 athletes ...

in Tunis winning the gold medal with a jump of . Four years later in the 1971 Mediterranean Games he won the silver medal with a jump of , and in the 1979 Mediterranean Games in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

he won the bronze medal with a jump of . Rak worked as a coach in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

training athletes such as 800-metre runner Slobodanka Čolović and long-jumper

Siniša Ergotić Siniša Ergotić (born 14 September 1968) is a Croatian long jumper. He won the gold medal the 2001 Mediterranean Games in Tunis and the silver medal at the 2002 European Championships in Athletics in Munich. He has competed at three consecutiv ...

. Rak started as a footballing fitness coach with

, after that he joined Slaven Bilić with the

Croatia national football team The Croatia national football team ( hr, Hrvatska nogometna reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international Association football, football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football ...

. He followed Bilić to work with

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москв ...

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. He left West Ham along with Bilić's other coaching staff when the manager was sacked on 6 November 2017. In 2020, Rak joined the Croatia national handball team as the fitness coach again.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rak, Miljenko Living people 1947 births Croatian male long jumpers Croatian sports coaches West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in England University of Novi Sad alumni Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1967 Mediterranean Games Yugoslavian Athletics Championships winners