At 82, Ante Kostelic stops: retired the man who blew up skiing in Croatia

After the official status of the national teams, the Croatian federation confirmed that Janica and Ivica's father will stop. Hers was truly a unique career ...

Sunday 25 April 2021 4 minutes reading time

A myth, a character who literally blew up skiing in Croatia, because without the Kostelic brothers there probably would have been no fixed stage of the World Cup in Zagreb and the various heirs of Janica and Ivica, from Zubcic to the Kolega brothers, from the very young talent of Zrinka Ljutic to the many slalomists who began to dream seeing the deeds of a family that made history. Leading it, Ante Kostelic, who now at 82 has finally chosen to take some rest: from next season we will no longer see him on the track as technician and mentor of the Croatian national team (which he continued to follow together with Ivica, after the retirement of the same in 2017), coma confirmed the same federation once the teams for the 2021/22 vintage were made official. Born on 11 August 1938, Ante was an excellent handball player, before diving into the world of skiing and finding in his children (Ivica class' '79, Janica of '82) the future of an entire country in this sport. With discussed methods, but an uncommon capacity for sacrifice and determination, considering the very few financial means available, dad Kostelic led Janica to win three absolute World Cups, 3 slalom crystal balls, 4 Olympic titles (with the legendary hat-trick of Salt Lake City, which did not become poker for the 5 cents silver behind Daniela Ceccarelli in super-g ...), 5 world championships (hat-trick in Bormio) and the retirement at just 24 years for one of the most dominant athletes in the history of skiing, but greatly conditioned by physical problems. Ivica has always pursued the dream of the Olympic title, which vanished several times at the Games with the beauty of four silvers, but the world slalom title in Sankt Moritz 2003 and above all the 2011 absolute World Cup (as well as two specialty cups in slalom ) have paid off and how. Just as they made Ante more and more proud, who never stopped, however, the career of his children and continued to work for the growth of Croatian skiing. Now he stops too.

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