Zlatko Šimenc (born 29 November 1938) is a retired

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 and coach (1969-1975) of

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n origin. He was part of the Yugoslav teams that won a silver medal at the 1964 Olympics and placed fourth in 1960. He won three more medals at the European championships in 1958–1966. Šimenc's parents moved from

before he was born. They had three sons and one daughter, with Zlatko being the youngest child. He took up swimming aged 11, and in his twenties changed to water polo and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

. He trained as a water polo defender in the summer and as a handball striker in the winter, and won national titles in both sports with his club Mladost. Between 1955 and 1975 he played 101 water polo and 24 handball matches for the national Yugoslav teams. In 1958, Šimenc enrolled to study law, but next year changed to the newly established in Zagreb institute of physical education, and graduated in 1966. He later earned a master's degree in

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

and defended a PhD in

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 ...

. Since 1966 until retirement he worked at the Department of Team Sports of the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

, and published ca. 60 scientific papers and books on handball and water polo. In parallel he served as a sports official at the Yugoslav (1980–82) and Croatian (1992–96) water polo federations and was a member of the Croatian Olympic Committee (1991–95). His son

Dubravko Dubravko () is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, derived from ''dubrava'' meaning "oak grove". The name can refer to: * Dubravko Bužimski Jelačić, Croatian writer * Dubravko Detoni, Croatian composer, pianist and writer * Dubravko J ...

also became an Olympic medalist in water polo, while his daughter Iva is a coach and former competitor in synchronized swimming.

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Zlatko Šimenc
at Encyclopedia LZMK {{DEFAULTSORT:Simenc, Zlatko 1938 births Living people Croatian male water polo players Croatian water polo coaches Yugoslav male water polo players Olympic water polo players for Yugoslavia Water polo players at the 1960 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic medalists in water polo Water polo players from Zagreb Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Yugoslavia Competitors at the 1959 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1963 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in water polo University of Zagreb alumni Croatian people of Slovenian descent Croatian sports executives and administrators

See also

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