A very sporting olive oil in Split.
The most famous names of Croatian and world athletics will have their own olive oil this year. On Tuesday, first olives were harvested at the Olive Grove of Sporting Greats at the Youth Park in Split. In the grove, there is a total of 132 olive trees which were planted in 2013 and which are named after world athletics stars, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on October 13, 2015.
The idea of the Split Athletics Club to plant olives in honour of outstanding athletes who have competed in Split has literally come to fruition.
“Look how tall the tree is! How much oil will it produce? It is clear that the harvest will be very good. They say that the harvest of olives shows whether the next year will be any good. If that is true, I will have a great year!”, said Blanka Vlašić who has joined the picking, starting from the olive tree which has been planted by her and which bears her name. In the grove, there are also olive trees with names of Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka, Bulgaria’s Stefka Kostadinova, Croatia’s Jozo Alebić and other successful athletes who have competed in Split.
“This is a nice gesture of our Club, since olives symbolize eternity. I have about a hundred olive trees of my own. The olives from the Youth Park will be given to people who need them”, said Jozo Alebić, who was joined in the grove by Ivan Veštić, president of the Croatian Athletics Federation, Slaven and Jozo Žužul from the Split Football Club, Deni Lušić and many of the youngest members of the Split Athletics Club.
“We will produce oil from our olives, and we will send a bottle to Bubka, Irena Szewinska from Poland, Alberto Juantorena from Cuba and others who have their trees here. We will even produce small olive chocolates as a gift.”
