An illustrious Croatian sporting career is coming to an end.
Ivica Kostelić, one of the best athletes that Croatia ever had, is quietly nearing the end of his professional career. It is almost certain that this is his last season on the ski slopes of the World Cup where he has achieved an impressive and memorable career. This weekend he will probably ski for the very last time in the world famous Kitzbuhel in Austria, reports Vecernji List on January 22, 2016.
Although he has not yet officially announced it, there are indications that this is his last competitive season. Maybe everything would have already ended long time ago if Ivica did not enjoy this lifestyle so much. Also, he has a heart of a great fighter and probably some sponsorship obligations which he has to respect.
Maybe to his own detriment, Kostelić has never sought any special honours, and he is not self-centred as, for example, Kobe Bryant. The great basketball player announced in November that this would be his last season and now on every NBA court he enjoys well-deserved admiration of the crowds. Ivica is nearing the end of his career in silence. Due to his health status, this is the last moment for Kostelić to retire from professional sports and to devote his time and energy to other things which are of interest to him (history, playing guitar, sailing, fishing…), and especially to his family and son.
It has to be said that the results this season are not worthy of such a great athlete who should be remembered for his successes and records. Just like it happened last weekend in Wengen, Ivica will this weekend again ski in another famous ski resort where he had left a very deep mark. Kitzbuhel, a fashionable Austrian winter resort, is rightly called “skiing Wimbledon”.
In Kitzbuhel, Ivica won four times in a row for a total of five victories and will therefore receive a special award this weekend. After all, Kostelić there already has his own gondola which is a kind of a moving monument. During recent negotiations with the owners of the Croatian public debt, incoming Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković and Croatian National Bank Governor Boris Vujčić were proud to go for a ride in it.
Ivica is slowly ending his career with an inevitable impression that he has been more respected abroad than in Croatia. Not in the moments of great achievements which were always loudly celebrated, but in those periods when he stopped winning so even the national television stopped broadcasting his races. And that is a mistake, since Ivica’s career is a very powerful message about how the love towards a sport or a job, Spartan persistence and constant desire for improvement bring success.
