Andro Bušlje (born 4 January 1986) is a Croatian

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 in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he was part of the Croatian team that won the gold medal. He is right-handed and plays the center defender position. From 2016 to 2019 he played for Greek powerhouse

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

, with whom he won the

2017–18 LEN Champions League The 2017–18 LEN Champions League was the 55th edition of LEN's premier competition for men's Water Polo, water polo clubs. Overview Team allocation 12 teams are directly qualified for the preliminary round (TH: Champions League title holders) ...

. He started playing water polo at the age of 12, and he made his national team debut in 2005. Bušlje is one of the top defenders in the world. Bušlje is currently the captain of the Croatia national team, with whom he has become Olympic gold medalist, 2 times World Champion and European Champion. He is the only water polo player in the world to have won 7 FINA World Championship medals (2 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze), an all-time record as of 2017 Bušlje was given the honour to carry the national flag of Croatia at the

closing 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

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, becoming the 29th 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.

Honours

Club

Jug Dubrovnik *

LEN Champions League The European Aquatics Champions League is the top-tier European professional water polo club competition with teams from up to 18 countries. It is organized by the Ligue Européenne de Natation. The competition started in 1963 as European Cup. A ...

: 2005–06 ;''runners-up'': 2006–07, 2007–08, 2012–13 *

LEN Super Cup The European Aquatics Super Cup is an annual water polo match organized by European Aquatics and contested by the reigning champions of the two most important European club competitions, the European Aquatics Champions League and the European A ...

: 2006 * Croatian Championship: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 * Croatian Cup: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 *

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

: 2008–09 Olympiacos *

: 2017–18 ;''runners-up'': 2018–19 *

Greek Championship The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 *

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup (), formerly known as the Friendship and Solidarity Cup () is a Greek association football one-match competition, which is contested annually either between the champions of the previous Super League Greece season and the hold ...

: 2018 Mladost * Croatian Championship: 2020–21 * Croatian Cup: 2020–21

Individual

*Member of the World Team by ''total-waterpolo'' 2017 *

Defender of the Year: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2024–25 * Croatian Water Polo Player of the Year: 2018 *

Defender of the Year: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14 * Serie A1 Defender of the Year: 2015–16 * Croatian Championship

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

: 2009–10, 2020–21 * Croatian Championship Defender of the Year: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2020–21 *

Defender of the Year: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19

References

External links

* * * * 1986 births Living people Water polo players from Dubrovnik Croatian male water polo players 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Water polo centre backs Water polo players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Croatia in water polo Olympic silver medalists for Croatia in water polo World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo Water polo players at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in water polo Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Croatia Olympiacos Water Polo Club players Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian expatriate water polo players Water polo players at the 2020 Summer Olympics European Water Polo Championship medalists {{Croatia-Olympic-medalist-stub

Honours

Club

Individual

See also

References

External links