A unique event took place on Friday in the post office on Korzo in Rijeka, reports Novi list on September 9, 2017.
The Croatian Post unveiled their new post stamp and a new postcard design created in memory of the famous Paralympic athlete Milka Milinković, who passed away three months ago.
Milinković was born in 1955 in Sanski Most in Bosnia and Herzegovina; when she was thirteen years old, she had an accident that left her disabled. After she received medical treatment and completed a rehabilitation programme in Kraljevica, she set off on an extraordinary life journey and became a renowned athlete. Her incredible willpower and persistence transformed her into a world-known sports heroine who still remains the most successful Croatian Paralympic athlete.
Milinković participated in ten Paralympic Games, from Heilderberg in 1972 to Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She was the one to win the first Croatian Paralympic medal since the country declared independence – in Barcelona in 1992. She won a total of eight Paralympic medals (2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals), along with 33 other medals won at various world and European championships.
Apart from her outstanding achievements in sports, Milinković was known and loved for her kind spirit and cheerful demeanor, one that got her dubbed a good spirit of Kraljevica, Rijeka, and the whole of Primorje-Gorski kotar County.
The well-deserved tribute by the Croatian Post was initiated by the Croatian Olympic Philately and Memorabilia Society, an association that promotes Croatian Olympic and Paralympic athletes through philately. They also do their part to promote sports in Croatia in general, along with all the positive values of sports culture. Milka will be long remembered as a best example of those values, as her achievements in development of Croatian Paralympic sports still remain unparalleled.
