Hrvoje Kačić

Hrvoje Kačić
Kačić in 1956
Personal information
Born(1932-01-13)January 13, 1932
Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia
DiedFebruary 14, 2023(2023-02-14) (aged 91)
Zagreb, Croatia
Sport
SportWater polo
Medal record
Representing Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1956 Melbourne Team Competition
European Championship
Silver medal – second place 1958 Budapest Team Competition
Bronze medal – third place 1950 Vienna Team Competition
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place 1959 Beirut Team Competition

Hrvoje Kačić (13 January 1932 – 14 February 2023) was a Croatian water polo player, legal scholar and politician.

Biography

Kačić was born in Dubrovnik on 13 January 1932.[1] At the age of 18, Kačić played for the Yugoslavia national water polo team at the 1950 European Water Polo Championship at which the team won bronze.[2] During the 1950s he became out of favour with Yugoslavia's communist regime and had his passport confiscated on three occasions.[2] He was jailed by the regime in 1952 which prevented him from joining the national team at the 1952 Summer Olympics.[2] He was also expelled from university.

Kačić competed with the national team at the 1956 Summer Olympics,[3] during which his friend and teammate Ivo Štakula defected to Australia.[2] In 1957, he was awarded the Sportske novosti Croatian Sportsman of the Year. At the 1959 Mediterranean Games he won a gold medal.[1] On the club level he was a long-time member of Croatian waterpolo club Jug from Dubrovnik, multiple national champion.

In 1956 he finished a degree in law.[4] He later finished a doctorate in law in 1965 at the University of Zagreb, specializing in maritime law.[5] Kačić also wrote about history.[6] He has collaborated with Ivo Pilar Institute of History.[7]

Kačić was elected to the Croatian Parliament for the first time in the country's first democratic elections in 1990 as an independent candidate.[8] From 1994 to 2001 he was president of the State Commission for Borders of the Republic of Croatia.[8]

In 1994 he received the Croatian Olympic Committee's Matija Ljubek Award.[9] He has served on the committee which gives out the Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport.[10] Kačić still actively supported Croatian water polo, retaining a position in the Croatian Water Polo Federation and supporting the national team.[11]

Kačić died in Zagreb, Croatia, on 14 February 2023, at the age of 91.[12][13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Gizdić, Jurica (2016). Hrvatski olimpijci i odličnici (PDF) (in Croatian). Croatian Olympic Committee. p. 263. ISBN 978-953-7912-05-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Olimpijske legende: Hrvoje Kačić". Olimp (in Croatian) (15). Croatian Olympic Committee. June 2005. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  3. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hrvoje Kačić". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Reprinted and new edition of Hrvoje Kačić's U službi domovine". Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  5. ^ Granting recognition
  6. ^ Partisans killed Croatian anti-fascists Archived 8 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Hrvoje Kačić, Glas Koncila
  7. ^ News in short Archived 30 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Croatian Radiotelevision
  8. ^ a b "Hrvoje Kačić". matica.hr (in Croatian). Matica hrvatska. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  9. ^ "Matija Ljubek Award". Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  10. ^ "Recipients of the Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport in 2002". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  11. ^ "Vaterpoliste dočekalo 30.000 ljudi" [Waterpolo players met by 30,000]. Nacional (in Croatian). 3 April 2007. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  12. ^ "Umro srebrni hrvatski olimpijac i jedan od najvećih igrača Juga u povijesti". Index.hr. 14 February 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  13. ^ "U 91. godini u Zagrebu preminuo legendarni vaterpolski olimpijac Hrvoje Kačić". HOO (in Croatian). Retrieved 30 July 2024.