October 14, 2019 – After their third appearance among this years’ 12 national teams, the representatives of Montenegro picked the most olives and became new World Champions in olive picking.
Postira, Brač, October 10-13 – Their third appearance at the World Championship in Olive Picking, held in the olive grove of St Joseph in Postira on Island Brač, proved to be lucky and fully successful for the four-membered team of Montenegro. They managed to convincingly outperform their competition from other 11 participating national teams, by picking 77.6 kg of olives, as much as 20 kg more than the second positioned team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Team South Africa won the third place, by picking 56 kg of olives from the ancient Brač olive grove.
“We are very happy. We have progressed more and more every year. In the first year we made it to fifth place, next year we were second, and this year, finally, first! Our mission is accomplished”, proudly says Ivan Mirković captain of the winning team.
Members of this years’ Croatian VIP team were the captain-blogger Danijela Dvornik, journalist and editor of Croatian National Television Franka Jović, Split – Dalmatia County prefect Blaženko Boban and our handball golden medalist Petar Metličić. In the manner of good hosts, they turned over the title of World Champion to Team Montenegro, settling for the sixth place, with 50.4 kg of picked olives, following Team Slovenia on fourth, and Team Slovakia on the fifth place.
“Although we haven’t accepted the organizers’ idea of letting others win the title of World Champion and tried our best to keep it in Croatia, this year it just didn’t work out. If the organizers invite our next year, we will be ready and again try for victory”, promised Croatian handball player Petar Metličić, Olympic gold medallist and World Champion.
The Prefect of Split-Dalmatia County had already proven himself a passionate olive grower. Two years ago, he fell off a tree while picking olives and broke two ribs, but the accident hasn’t stopped him from supporting this event – then as a sponsor, and this year as a participant of Croatian National Team. “The captain has forbidden me to climb trees, so I was safe. As for the organizers, like all people from Brač they are very resourceful: first, they bring tourists to the island, and then they make them pick their olives. Very clever”, concluded the Prefect Blaženko Boban with a smile.
The third edition of the Word Championship in Olive Picking organized by the Postira Tourist Board, Municipality of Postira and the Postira Agriculture Cooperative, gathered as many as 12 national teams, which is the highest number of participating teams so far.
The main aim of this competition is the promotion of olive-growing and products of Postira and the island of Brač, as well as meeting and getting to know the olive-growing tradition of different countries. The teams are competing in two disciplines, the main one being traditional olive picking by hand in a designated time limit. The second discipline is a quiz where the teams test their knowledge in the field of olive growing and olive oil production. The most successful in solving the quiz was Team Belgium, which won a special prize.
The last in olive picking, but winning in personalities were the members of Team England. With only 22.6 kg of harvested olives, they haven’t managed to improve their last position from last year, which had been the teams’ main goal. “All year we’ve been saying: the technique is – pick the right tree. And then Johnnie drank a little bit too much last night and he picked the wrong tree. Again”, explained Mark Fitzpatrick the reason of their fail with a smile. “But this was one the best weekends of my life”, adds Mark, who loves this event, the island of Brač and Croatia.
The director of Postira Tourist Board Ivana Jelinčić is very happy and proud of this years’ edition of the Championship. The atmosphere and the participants’ impressions were fantastic. “We want to show that in Postira tourism and agriculture are walking hand in hand. I am so happy that our citizens and participants accepted this competition so well, and that it’s getting all the media attention it deserves. The story of our World Championship has travelled the World”, she proudly concluded once the competition was over, medals handed out to their winners and teams returning to their homes happy and full of great memories and impressions from her island.
Now that the World Championship is over, Ivana and her fellow citizens can finally concentrate on the activity they’re best at – on their island, and when they decide it, also in the World – picking olives.
Results:
- Montenegro 77,6 kg
- Bosnia and Herzegovina 57,6 kg
- South Africa 56 kg
- Slovenia 53,4 kg
- Slovakia 53 kg
- Croatia 50,5 kg
- Poland 43,8 kg
- USA 41,8 kg
- Germany 40 kg
- Belgium 37,6 k
- France 32,8 kg
- England 22,6 kg
A look back at last year’s event by video.
