Milan Neralić was a Croatian

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 fencer

Fencing

Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

 who competed in the late 19th century and early 20th century for Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

.

He was the first Croat to take part in the Olympic Games and the first one to win a medal.

Neralić participated in Fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics

Fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics

At the 1900 Summer Olympics, seven fencing events were contested. Fencers from 19 nations competed.-Medal summary:-Weekly summary:The fencing events were spread out over a good deal of time. The competitions began on Monday, 14 May.-14-20 May:...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and won the bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

 in the Master's sabre

Sabre

The sabre or saber is a kind of backsword that usually has a curved, single-edged blade and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger...

. He was defeated by Italian fencer Italo Santelli

Italo Santelli

Italo Santelli was an Italian fencer who is considered to be the "father of modern sabre fencing".-Early life:...

 in the semi-final.

Neralić spent most of his life in Berlin and Vienna working as fencing instructor. His most notable student was Richard Verderber

Richard Verderber

Richard Verderber was an Austrian fencer who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.He was part of the Austrian sabre team, which won the silver medal. In the individual foil event he won the bronze medal....

, winner of the silver (saber team) and bronze (foil) medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.