Ivica Kostelic
Encyclopedia
Ivica Kostelić (ˈiʋitsa ˈkɔstɛlitɕ; born November 23, 1979) is an alpine ski racer
from Zagreb
, Croatia
. He won the world championship in slalom
in 2003 and three Olympic silver medals in slalom (2010
) and combined
(2006
and 2010
), along with the overall World Cup title in 2011 and 18 World Cup races during his career. He specializes in slalom and combined, but is also one of the few alpine World Cup ski racers able to score points in all disciplines. He is the elder brother of Janica Kostelić
, the winner of three overall World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals before her early retirement due to injuries.
, Olympic
silver medal in slalom in Vancouver in 2010
, and Olympic silver medals in combined in 2006
(traditional combined) and 2010
(super combined), along with 18 World Cup
race victories during his career and the overall World Cup title in 2011. He won the slalom World Cup title in 2002 and 2011, and the combined World Cup title in 2011. Since 2008, he has finished among the top six in the overall World Cup standings each season (2008: sixth; 2009: fourth; 2010: fifth; 2011: first). He has also scored points in all disciplines each of those seasons, and his best race results (as of March 2011) are a seventh place in downhill, a second place in giant slalom, and victories in all other disciplines (11 in slalom, 1 in parallel-slalom, 2 in combined, 3 in super combined, and 1 in Super G
).
in Sölden
, Austria, at the age of 18, but failed to qualify for a second run. He did not finish any of his first 11 World Cup races over 3 seasons, until finally scoring World Cup points for the first time in Sestriere, Italy, in December 2000. His first three seasons on the World Cup all ended prematurely due to injuries, failing to make it past December or January each season. His big breakthrough came during the 2002
season, when he shockingly won the slalom at Aspen
, Colorado
, in November 2001 starting from the 64th bib number, his first finish higher than 21st place in any World Cup race. He won two more slaloms that season, and had three additional podiums (top 3), enough to clinch the slalom season title over Bode Miller
while avoiding season-ending injury for the first time in his career.
Kostelić would continue his success during the next season
, winning three more slalom races by mid-season, and adding a gold medal in slalom in February at the 2003 World Championships
in St. Moritz
, Switzerland. He would narrowly miss repeating his slalom title, falling to second place as Kalle Palander
won four consecutive slaloms in late season to clinch the globe. He would go on to win another slalom race during the 2003–2004 season
, the 7th win of his career, before injuries again ended his season prematurely in January. He would return to World Cup competition in time for the start of the 2004–2005 season
, but would fail to finish any of his first 7 races that year. Despite a pair of podiums later that season and occasional top-10 finishes, he would not win another World Cup race for nearly three years.
during the 2006
season, primarily in order to compete in the new format of super combined
, which consists of single runs of downhill and slalom. His broadened portfolio brought quick dividends, with a silver medal in the combined (a traditional combined with a single downhill and two runs of slalom) at the 2006 Winter Olympics
in Torino, Italy, in February. He would follow that success during the 2007 World Cup season
with a win in the super combined in Reiteralm, Austria, in December 2006, his eighth World Cup win and first other than slalom.
Starting with the 2008
season, Kostelić joined the select group of World Cup racers who compete in all races. Although he failed to win any World Cup races during the 2008 season, he finished second 4 times and third twice in slalom and super combined races, and for the first time scored points in all disciplines. He would finish second in the combined standings and sixth in the overall. The next season
brought another win in slalom, along with three more second places (including in GS for his first time) and a pair of thirds, as he moved up to fourth in the overall standings while again taking second in the slalom standings. Success in all disciplines continued in the 2010
season, with two more World Cup wins in slalom and combined (for a total of 11 in his career) along with a second in Super G, his first podium in a speed event. At the 2010 Winter Olympics
in Whistler, he won a pair of silver medals, in slalom and combined.
season. Following a third in the season-opening slalom in November, however, he suffered a string of mediocre finishes outside the top-10 for the rest of 2010. Then he opened the New Year with a victory in the first-ever Munich
City Event parallel slalom on January 2, and took second place four days later in the slalom in his hometown of Zagreb
. He followed that up with three more wins over the next two weeks in slalom and super combined at Adelboden
and Wengen
, Switzerland, to take the lead in the overall World Cup standings for the first time. At the Hahnenkamm
races in Kitzbühel
, Austria, he had victories in Super-G and combined, plus a second place in slalom, which opened a gap of more than 400 points over his nearest competitors in the overall ranking. A week later, he won the super combined in Chamonix
, France, his third straight win in combined and clinching the combined title for the season with one race still remaining. It was his seventh victory of January 2011, the most by any alpine ski racer in a single calendar month in World Cup history, and he scored points in all 14 World Cup races held in January, including two seconds and two fifths along with top-30 finishes in all three downhills, for a total of 999 points in January alone.
After the stunning success of January, Kostelić's results tailed off considerably and he would fail to finish higher than fifth in any of the remaining 10 World Cup races on the season. In February, Kostelić won a bronze medal in super G at the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch, but finished only 8th and 13th in the slalom and giant slalom. He chose not to race the World Championships downhill or the super combined (in which he was the clear favorite to win the gold medal) in order to avoid injury on the extremely icy course. On March 12, five races before the end of the season, he clinched his first overall World Cup title, and he would clinch the slalom title at the final race in Lenzerheide, Switzerland
on March 19, despite finishing out of the points that day. Kostelić would win a total of three crystal globes for the 2011 season including the overall, slalom, and combined titles.
players. They taught Ivica and his sister Janica
(who is two years younger) to ski on the nearby hill Sljeme
(now the site of the annual Snow Queen Trophy
World Cup races). Ante Kostelić has remained their primary ski coach throughout their careers, and is the head coach of the Croatian ski team.
Kostelić was formerly in a relationship with American skier Caroline Lalive before they reportedly broke up in 2005. Since 2006 Kostelić has been dating Elin Arnarsdottir, a retired ski racer from Iceland.
In 2006 Kostelić passed the entrance exam at the University of Zagreb
to become a part-time undergraduate
student of history.
, Kostelić told the reporters that before the race he had felt "powerful, all-conquering, like a German soldier ready for battle in 1941", in reference to the June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union
. Although the Croatian media had largely ignored the statement, the weekly tabloid Nacional
picked up the story and published an article featuring previously unreleased statements made by Kostelić from an interview that he gave to the weekly in May 2002. According to Nacional Kostelić said that he was "fascinated" with the scale of the World War II Luftwaffe attack on Britain
and gave an opinion on the differences between national socialism and communism saying that "Nationalism was still a healthy system for someone who was ambitious. In communism, we weren’t permitted to be ambitious, and both systems were totalitarian."
His remarks were interpreted by the weekly as a sign of far right
political leanings and the story attracted attention from international press. Kostelić then issued a statement claiming that the sentences published by Nacional were taken out of context and that they were made in informal conversation conducted after the formal interview, and added that "my heart is neither left- nor right-oriented, only towards sports, and my mind is only on skiing".
Other journalists had dismissed his original statement as nothing more than a badly chosen metaphor due to the fact that both Ivica and his father Ante are avid World War II buffs. Since 2002 Ante Kostelić owns a publishing house which published the Croatian edition of the award-winning book Stalingrad
by Antony Beevor
. In April 2010 the company also published a book about the Waffen-SS
which Ante Kostelić had edited.
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
from Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. He won the world championship in slalom
Slalom skiing
Slalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.- Origins :...
in 2003 and three Olympic silver medals in slalom (2010
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
) and combined
Alpine skiing combined
Combined is an alpine skiing event. Although not technically a discipline of its own, it is sometimes referred to as a fifth alpine discipline, along with downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom.-Traditional & Super-Combined:...
(2006
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
and 2010
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
), along with the overall World Cup title in 2011 and 18 World Cup races during his career. He specializes in slalom and combined, but is also one of the few alpine World Cup ski racers able to score points in all disciplines. He is the elder brother of Janica Kostelić
Janica Kostelic
Janica Kostelić is a retired alpine ski racer from Croatia. She is the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics , and the only woman to win three alpine skiing gold medals in one Olympics ....
, the winner of three overall World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals before her early retirement due to injuries.
Career
After considerable success in junior competitions, Kostelić's World Cup career has alternated between triumph and injury. His main accomplishments include a World Championship gold medal in slalom in 2003FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2003
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2003 were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, from February 2-16, 2003.St. Moritz previously hosted the world championships in 1974, as well as the 1948 Winter Olympics and the 1928 Winter Olympics ....
, Olympic
Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing has been contested at every Winter Olympics since 1936, when a combined event was held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. From 1948–80, the Winter Olympics also served as the World Championships in Olympic years...
silver medal in slalom in Vancouver in 2010
Alpine skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held at Whistler Creekside in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The ten events were scheduled for February 13–27, 2010; weather delayed the first event, the men's downhill, two days until Monday, February 15....
, and Olympic silver medals in combined in 2006
Alpine skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics consisted of ten events, held at Sestriere and Cesana-San Sicario, Italy. The races were held from February 12-25, 2006.-Medal table:- Men's events :- Women's events :-Course Information:...
(traditional combined) and 2010
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
(super combined), along with 18 World Cup
Alpine skiing World Cup
The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France and the USA...
race victories during his career and the overall World Cup title in 2011. He won the slalom World Cup title in 2002 and 2011, and the combined World Cup title in 2011. Since 2008, he has finished among the top six in the overall World Cup standings each season (2008: sixth; 2009: fourth; 2010: fifth; 2011: first). He has also scored points in all disciplines each of those seasons, and his best race results (as of March 2011) are a seventh place in downhill, a second place in giant slalom, and victories in all other disciplines (11 in slalom, 1 in parallel-slalom, 2 in combined, 3 in super combined, and 1 in Super G
Super Giant Slalom skiing
The Super Giant Slalom is an Alpine skiing discipline. It is usually referred to as Super G and is a "speed" event, along with the faster Downhill event; the Giant Slalom and Slalom events are known as the "technical" disciplines.-History:...
).
Early World Cup years (1998–2005)
Kostelić made his first World Cup start in October 19981999 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 33rd World Cup season began in October 1998 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded at the World Cup finals at Sierra Nevada, Spain, in March 1999. The overall winners were Lasse Kjus of Norway and Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria....
in Sölden
Sölden
Sölden is a municipality in the Ötztal valley of Tyrol, Austria.-Geography:At c. 467 km² , it is the largest municipality in the country. The population of 3,449 is outnumbered by tourists, of which 15,000 can be accommodated...
, Austria, at the age of 18, but failed to qualify for a second run. He did not finish any of his first 11 World Cup races over 3 seasons, until finally scoring World Cup points for the first time in Sestriere, Italy, in December 2000. His first three seasons on the World Cup all ended prematurely due to injuries, failing to make it past December or January each season. His big breakthrough came during the 2002
2002 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 2002 Alpine Skiing World Cup began in October 2001 and ended in March 2002 at the World Cup finals held in Altenmarkt, Austria. The overall winners were Stephan Eberharter and Michaela Dorfmeister, both from Austria....
season, when he shockingly won the slalom at Aspen
Aspen Mountain (ski area)
Aspen Mountain is a ski area located in Pitkin County, Colorado, just outside and above the city of Aspen. It is situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain and the higher Bell Mountain at an elevation of 11,212 ft just to the south of Aspen Mountain...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, in November 2001 starting from the 64th bib number, his first finish higher than 21st place in any World Cup race. He won two more slaloms that season, and had three additional podiums (top 3), enough to clinch the slalom season title over Bode Miller
Bode Miller
Samuel Bode Miller is an American alpine ski racer. He is an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist, a two-time overall World Cup champion in 2005 and 2008, and is generally considered the greatest American alpine skier of all time...
while avoiding season-ending injury for the first time in his career.
Kostelić would continue his success during the next season
2003 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 37th World Cup season began in October 2002 on Sölden, Austria, and concluded in March 2003 at the World Cup finals in Lillehammer, Norway. The overall winners were Stephan Eberharter of Austria and Janica Kostelić of Croatia....
, winning three more slalom races by mid-season, and adding a gold medal in slalom in February at the 2003 World Championships
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2003
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2003 were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, from February 2-16, 2003.St. Moritz previously hosted the world championships in 1974, as well as the 1948 Winter Olympics and the 1928 Winter Olympics ....
in St. Moritz
St. Moritz
St. Moritz is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...
, Switzerland. He would narrowly miss repeating his slalom title, falling to second place as Kalle Palander
Kalle Palander
Kalle Markus Palander is a Finnish alpine skier, the most successful male Finn ever in the sport.In 1999 Palander won the world championship in slalom. He also won the Alpine skiing World Cup in slalom during the 2002–2003 season, and was fourth in the overall standings. Palander has also...
won four consecutive slaloms in late season to clinch the globe. He would go on to win another slalom race during the 2003–2004 season
2004 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 38th World Cup season began in October 2003 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded at the World Cup finals in Sestriere, Italy, in March 2004. Sestriere would host the alpine skiing events at the 2006 Winter Olympics....
, the 7th win of his career, before injuries again ended his season prematurely in January. He would return to World Cup competition in time for the start of the 2004–2005 season
2005 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 39th World Cup season began in October 2004 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded in March 2005 at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The overall winners were Bode Miller of the U.S. and Anja Pärson of Sweden....
, but would fail to finish any of his first 7 races that year. Despite a pair of podiums later that season and occasional top-10 finishes, he would not win another World Cup race for nearly three years.
Resurgence as all-event skier (2006–2010)
Kostelić began his career as a technical specialist, racing only slalom and GS (with an occasional Super G), but started to ski the speed events including downhillDownhill
Downhill is an alpine skiing discipline. The rules for the Downhill were originally developed by Sir Arnold Lunn for the 1921 British National Ski Championships....
during the 2006
2006 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 40th World Cup season began in October 2005 and concluded at the World Cup finals in Åre, Sweden, in March 2006. The schedule included a nearly month-long break in February for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy....
season, primarily in order to compete in the new format of super combined
Alpine skiing combined
Combined is an alpine skiing event. Although not technically a discipline of its own, it is sometimes referred to as a fifth alpine discipline, along with downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom.-Traditional & Super-Combined:...
, which consists of single runs of downhill and slalom. His broadened portfolio brought quick dividends, with a silver medal in the combined (a traditional combined with a single downhill and two runs of slalom) at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics consisted of ten events, held at Sestriere and Cesana-San Sicario, Italy. The races were held from February 12-25, 2006.-Medal table:- Men's events :- Women's events :-Course Information:...
in Torino, Italy, in February. He would follow that success during the 2007 World Cup season
2007 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 41st World Cup season was scheduled to begin on October 28, 2006, but cancellation of the opening races in Sölden delayed the season's start by two weeks. A very poor snowpack in the Alps, along with stormy weather in January, caused numerous races to be moved and rescheduled throughout the...
with a win in the super combined in Reiteralm, Austria, in December 2006, his eighth World Cup win and first other than slalom.
Starting with the 2008
2008 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 42nd World Cup season began in October 2007 in Sölden, Austria and concluded on March 15, 2008, at the World Cup Finals in Bormio, Italy....
season, Kostelić joined the select group of World Cup racers who compete in all races. Although he failed to win any World Cup races during the 2008 season, he finished second 4 times and third twice in slalom and super combined races, and for the first time scored points in all disciplines. He would finish second in the combined standings and sixth in the overall. The next season
2009 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 43rd World Cup season began in late October 2008 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded in mid-March 2009, at the World Cup finals in Åre, Sweden.Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the overall title by two points over Benjamin Raich of Austria. Svindal returned from a season-ending injury in December...
brought another win in slalom, along with three more second places (including in GS for his first time) and a pair of thirds, as he moved up to fourth in the overall standings while again taking second in the slalom standings. Success in all disciplines continued in the 2010
2010 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 44th World Cup season began on October 24, 2009, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on March 14, 2010, at the World Cup finals in Garmisch, Germany....
season, with two more World Cup wins in slalom and combined (for a total of 11 in his career) along with a second in Super G, his first podium in a speed event. At the 2010 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held at Whistler Creekside in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The ten events were scheduled for February 13–27, 2010; weather delayed the first event, the men's downhill, two days until Monday, February 15....
in Whistler, he won a pair of silver medals, in slalom and combined.
Overall World Cup title (2011)
Kostelić's skiing would reach another level during the 20112011 Alpine Skiing World Cup
The 45th FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season began on 23 October 2010, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 20 March 2011, at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.Being an odd-numbered year, the biennial World Championships took place in February...
season. Following a third in the season-opening slalom in November, however, he suffered a string of mediocre finishes outside the top-10 for the rest of 2010. Then he opened the New Year with a victory in the first-ever Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
City Event parallel slalom on January 2, and took second place four days later in the slalom in his hometown of Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
. He followed that up with three more wins over the next two weeks in slalom and super combined at Adelboden
Adelboden
Adelboden is a municipality in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland.-Geography:Adelboden lies in the west of the Berner Oberland, at the end of the valley of the Engstlige river, which flows in Frutigen into the Kander river.Adelboden is a...
and Wengen
Lauberhorn
The Lauberhorn is a mountain in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, located between Wengen and Grindelwald. Its summit is at an elevation of 8110 feet above sea level....
, Switzerland, to take the lead in the overall World Cup standings for the first time. At the Hahnenkamm
Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel
The Hahnenkamm is a mountain in Austria, directly south of Kitzbühel, in the Kitzbühel Alps. The elevation of its summit is above sea level.The Hahnenkamm is part of the ski resort of Kitzbühel, and hosts the annual World Cup alpine ski races, the Hahnenkammrennen...
races in Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel
-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
, Austria, he had victories in Super-G and combined, plus a second place in slalom, which opened a gap of more than 400 points over his nearest competitors in the overall ranking. A week later, he won the super combined in Chamonix
Chamonix
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a commune in the Haute-Savoie département in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It was the site of the 1924 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympics...
, France, his third straight win in combined and clinching the combined title for the season with one race still remaining. It was his seventh victory of January 2011, the most by any alpine ski racer in a single calendar month in World Cup history, and he scored points in all 14 World Cup races held in January, including two seconds and two fifths along with top-30 finishes in all three downhills, for a total of 999 points in January alone.
After the stunning success of January, Kostelić's results tailed off considerably and he would fail to finish higher than fifth in any of the remaining 10 World Cup races on the season. In February, Kostelić won a bronze medal in super G at the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch, but finished only 8th and 13th in the slalom and giant slalom. He chose not to race the World Championships downhill or the super combined (in which he was the clear favorite to win the gold medal) in order to avoid injury on the extremely icy course. On March 12, five races before the end of the season, he clinched his first overall World Cup title, and he would clinch the slalom title at the final race in Lenzerheide, Switzerland
Lenzerheide
Lenzerheide is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It lies at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village belongs to the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein....
on March 19, despite finishing out of the points that day. Kostelić would win a total of three crystal globes for the 2011 season including the overall, slalom, and combined titles.
Personal life
Ivica Kostelić was born and raised in Zagreb. His parents, Ante and Marica, are former elite team handballTeam handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
players. They taught Ivica and his sister Janica
Janica Kostelic
Janica Kostelić is a retired alpine ski racer from Croatia. She is the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics , and the only woman to win three alpine skiing gold medals in one Olympics ....
(who is two years younger) to ski on the nearby hill Sljeme
Šljeme
Šljeme is a village in the municipality of Ilijaš, Bosnia and Herzegovina.-References:...
(now the site of the annual Snow Queen Trophy
Snow Queen Trophy
Snow Queen is the name of a men's and women's slalom race held as part of the Alpine skiing World Cup. It has taken place on the Medvednica mountaintop Sljeme since 2005....
World Cup races). Ante Kostelić has remained their primary ski coach throughout their careers, and is the head coach of the Croatian ski team.
Kostelić was formerly in a relationship with American skier Caroline Lalive before they reportedly broke up in 2005. Since 2006 Kostelić has been dating Elin Arnarsdottir, a retired ski racer from Iceland.
In 2006 Kostelić passed the entrance exam at the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
to become a part-time undergraduate
Undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is an education level taken prior to gaining a first degree . Hence, in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is...
student of history.
Controversy
In January 2003, after winning the slalom at Kranjska GoraKranjska Gora
Kranjska Gora is a town and a municipality on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region of northwest Slovenia, close to the Austrian and Italian borders.Kranjska Gora is best known as a winter sports town, being situated in the Julian Alps...
, Kostelić told the reporters that before the race he had felt "powerful, all-conquering, like a German soldier ready for battle in 1941", in reference to the June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. Although the Croatian media had largely ignored the statement, the weekly tabloid Nacional
Nacional (weekly)
Nacional is a Croatian weekly newsmagazine published in Zagreb.-History:Nacional was started in 1995 by Denis Kuljiš, Ivo Pukanić and other journalists dissatisfied with the editorial policies of Croatian weekly newspaper Globus. Both publications were hostile to the ruling HDZ government...
picked up the story and published an article featuring previously unreleased statements made by Kostelić from an interview that he gave to the weekly in May 2002. According to Nacional Kostelić said that he was "fascinated" with the scale of the World War II Luftwaffe attack on Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
and gave an opinion on the differences between national socialism and communism saying that "Nationalism was still a healthy system for someone who was ambitious. In communism, we weren’t permitted to be ambitious, and both systems were totalitarian."
His remarks were interpreted by the weekly as a sign of far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
political leanings and the story attracted attention from international press. Kostelić then issued a statement claiming that the sentences published by Nacional were taken out of context and that they were made in informal conversation conducted after the formal interview, and added that "my heart is neither left- nor right-oriented, only towards sports, and my mind is only on skiing".
Other journalists had dismissed his original statement as nothing more than a badly chosen metaphor due to the fact that both Ivica and his father Ante are avid World War II buffs. Since 2002 Ante Kostelić owns a publishing house which published the Croatian edition of the award-winning book Stalingrad
Stalingrad (book)
Written by Antony Beevor, Stalingrad is a narrative history of the epic battle fought in and around the city of Stalingrad during World War II, as well as the events leading up to it and those which occurred after...
by Antony Beevor
Antony Beevor
Antony James Beevor, FRSL is a British historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. He studied under the famous military historian John Keegan. Beevor is a former officer with the 11th Hussars who served in England and Germany for five years before resigning his commission...
. In April 2010 the company also published a book about the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
which Ante Kostelić had edited.
Season titles
| Season | Discipline |
|---|---|
| 2002 2002 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 2002 Alpine Skiing World Cup began in October 2001 and ended in March 2002 at the World Cup finals held in Altenmarkt, Austria. The overall winners were Stephan Eberharter and Michaela Dorfmeister, both from Austria.... |
Slalom Slalom skiing Slalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.- Origins :... |
| 2011 2011 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 45th FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season began on 23 October 2010, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 20 March 2011, at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.Being an odd-numbered year, the biennial World Championships took place in February... |
Overall |
| Combined Alpine skiing combined Combined is an alpine skiing event. Although not technically a discipline of its own, it is sometimes referred to as a fifth alpine discipline, along with downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom.-Traditional & Super-Combined:... |
|
| Slalom |
Race victories
18 victories: 11 slalom, 5 combined (3 super combined, 2 traditional), 1 parallel slalom, 1 Super G| Season | Date | Location | Race |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 2002 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 2002 Alpine Skiing World Cup began in October 2001 and ended in March 2002 at the World Cup finals held in Altenmarkt, Austria. The overall winners were Stephan Eberharter and Michaela Dorfmeister, both from Austria.... |
25 Nov 2001 |  AspenAspen Mountain (ski area) Aspen Mountain is a ski area located in Pitkin County, Colorado, just outside and above the city of Aspen. It is situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain and the higher Bell Mountain at an elevation of 11,212 ft just to the south of Aspen Mountain... , USA |
Slalom Slalom skiing Slalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.- Origins :... |
| 13 Jan 2002 |  WengenLauberhorn The Lauberhorn is a mountain in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, located between Wengen and Grindelwald. Its summit is at an elevation of 8110 feet above sea level.... , Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... |
Slalom | |
| 09 Mar 2002 |  FlachauFlachau Flachau is a village in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Salzburg state, Austria, with a population of 2,639 . Its numerous skiing facilities are part of the Ski Amadé network of ski areas, the largest in Europe.- History :... , Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
Slalom | |
| 2003 2003 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 37th World Cup season began in October 2002 on Sölden, Austria, and concluded in March 2003 at the World Cup finals in Lillehammer, Norway. The overall winners were Stephan Eberharter of Austria and Janica Kostelić of Croatia.... |
16 Dec 2002 |  SestriereSestriere Sestriere is an alpine village in Italy, a comune of the Province of Turin. It is from the French border. Its name derives from Latin: ad petram sistrariam, that is at sixty Roman miles from Turin.... , Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
Slalom |
| 05 Jan 2003 |  Kranjska GoraKranjska Gora Kranjska Gora is a town and a municipality on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region of northwest Slovenia, close to the Austrian and Italian borders.Kranjska Gora is best known as a winter sports town, being situated in the Julian Alps... , Slovenia Slovenia Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of... |
Slalom | |
| 12 Jan 2003 | Bormio Bormio Bormio is a town and comune located in the province of Sondrio, Lombardy region of the Alps in northern Italy. It has a population of 4,200... , Italy |
Slalom | |
| 2004 2004 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 38th World Cup season began in October 2003 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded at the World Cup finals in Sestriere, Italy, in March 2004. Sestriere would host the alpine skiing events at the 2006 Winter Olympics.... |
15 Dec 2003 | Madonna di Campiglio Madonna di Campiglio Madonna di Campiglio is a village and a ski resort in northeast Italy. It is a frazione of the comune of Pinzolo. The village lies in the Val Rendena at an altitude of 1,522 m... , Italy |
Slalom |
| 2007 2007 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 41st World Cup season was scheduled to begin on October 28, 2006, but cancellation of the opening races in Sölden delayed the season's start by two weeks. A very poor snowpack in the Alps, along with stormy weather in January, caused numerous races to be moved and rescheduled throughout the... |
10 Dec 2006 | Reiteralm Reiteralm Reiteralm is part of the Schladminger 4-Berge-Schaukel, a network of four mountains. It is located in Austria.... , Austria |
Super combined Alpine skiing combined Combined is an alpine skiing event. Although not technically a discipline of its own, it is sometimes referred to as a fifth alpine discipline, along with downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom.-Traditional & Super-Combined:... |
| 2009 2009 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 43rd World Cup season began in late October 2008 in Sölden, Austria, and concluded in mid-March 2009, at the World Cup finals in Åre, Sweden.Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the overall title by two points over Benjamin Raich of Austria. Svindal returned from a season-ending injury in December... |
22 Dec 2008 | Alta Badia Alta Badia Alta Badia is a ski resort in the upper part of the Val Badia in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It is included in the territories of the municipalities' of Corvara, Badia and La Val. It is a regular stop on the World Cup schedule, usually by the men in mid-December... , Italy |
Slalom |
| 2010 2010 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 44th World Cup season began on October 24, 2009, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on March 14, 2010, at the World Cup finals in Garmisch, Germany.... |
17 Jan 2010 | Wengen, Switzerland |
Slalom |
| 24 Jan 2010 | Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel The Hahnenkamm is a mountain in Austria, directly south of Kitzbühel, in the Kitzbühel Alps. The elevation of its summit is above sea level.The Hahnenkamm is part of the ski resort of Kitzbühel, and hosts the annual World Cup alpine ski races, the Hahnenkammrennen... , Austria |
Combined | |
| 2011 2011 Alpine Skiing World Cup The 45th FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season began on 23 October 2010, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 20 March 2011, at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.Being an odd-numbered year, the biennial World Championships took place in February... |
02 Jan 2011 | Munich Munich Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
Parallel slalom |
| 09 Jan 2011 | Adelboden Adelboden Adelboden is a municipality in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland.-Geography:Adelboden lies in the west of the Berner Oberland, at the end of the valley of the Engstlige river, which flows in Frutigen into the Kander river.Adelboden is a... , Switzerland |
Slalom | |
| 14 Jan 2011 | Wengen, Switzerland |
Super combined | |
| 16 Jan 2011 | Slalom | ||
| 21 Jan 2011 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Super G Super Giant Slalom skiing The Super Giant Slalom is an Alpine skiing discipline. It is usually referred to as Super G and is a "speed" event, along with the faster Downhill event; the Giant Slalom and Slalom events are known as the "technical" disciplines.-History:... |
|
| 23 Jan 2011 | Combined | ||
| 30 Jan 2011 |  ChamonixChamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a commune in the Haute-Savoie département in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It was the site of the 1924 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympics... , France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Super combined |
External links
- Official website
- Ivica Kostelić at the Alpine Ski Database