Aside from being a popular tourist destination, one of the main ways that many know of Croatia is through the country's famous sportsmen and women. For such a small country, a remarkable number of top-class athletes have emerged. Whether you're a fan of football, tennis, skiing or are a avid follower of the Olympics, you're bound to have seen some Croatian sports stars participating...and winning!

Croatian Football
Read all about Croatia's success as an international team in the 1990s, as well as their performance at recent tournaments

Croatian Tennis
Croatia has had some tennis greats over the years, most famous of which is 2001 Wimbledon Champion Goran Ivanisevic

Skiing
Croatia's most famous skiier is Janica Kostelic. This outstanding skiier won a number of World Cup titles and gold and silver medals in the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics – rather amazing when you consider that Croatia doesn't really have good skiing facilities or opportunities.

Janica won the overall skiing World Cup title in 2001, 2003 and 2006, She also won three gold medals and one silver in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and one gold medal and one silver medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.

Janica retired from competitive skiing in 2007, after suffering from persistent injuries.

Janica's older brother Ivica is also a professional skiier, and won a silver medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics, as well as a World Championship gold medal in 2003 in the slalom.

Read more about the Kostelic siblings at their official websites: Janica Kostelic and Ivica Kostelic.

Athletics
One of Croatia's most well-known current athletes is high-jumper Blanka Vlasic, who is from Split. Very successful in her field, Blanka has won a number of medals, including golds at the World Athletics Final, World Indoor Championships and World Championships, and a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

She set her personal best jump of 2.08 metres in August 2009, the second highest height ever achieved in the sport. Blanka is also currently second in the all-time high jump rankings.

See the website of Blanka Vlasic for more information about her, of the Croatian Athletics Federation website for details about Croatian athletics.

Basketball
A number of Croatian basketball players are relatively famous, having played for teams in Europe and the U.S. (Basketball is a reasonably popular sport in Croatia.) These players include 90s greats such as Toni Kukoc (who played for the Chicago Bulls), Dino Radja (Boston Celtics) and Drazen Petrovic (NJ Nets). Croatia won a silver medal for basketball in their first Olympic Games in 1992 (losing to the mighty U.S. team in the final), a remarkable and and uplifting achievement for a country still at war at that time.

Handball
As in much of Eastern Europe, handball is a popular sport in Croatia. There are handball leagues in the country which attract a large following.

Croatia won gold medals in men's hanball in both the 1996 and 2004 Olympic Games. They also won the gold in the 2003 World Championships, and have been runners-up three times - including the 2009 Championships, which were held in Croatia.

Croatian Handball Federation