Complete Idiot’s Guide to Following Croatia at the Olympics

• Another athlete who will miss the Olympics due to injury is cyclist Robert Kiserlovski. Robert rides for team Astana and broke his collarbone in the Tour De France as a result of “hooligans” placing tacks on the road that punctured his tire as well as the tires of 30 other cyclists.
• The London Philharmonic Orchestra recorded the anthems of more than 200 countries, a task that took over 60 hours.
• There are 4 athletes competing without a country, most notably marathoner Guor Marial, a South Sudanese refugee. 
• Antonija Mišura was voted by Bleacher Report as the most beautiful women at the Olympics.

• In the U.S.A, NBC will be covering the Olympics with competitions being shown on NBC, NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus), CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo and NBC Universal.
• Every event will be televised live and NBC will have a 3-5 hour primetime highlight show every night. Every event can also be seen live at NBColympics (US only) for free. In addition replays of events can be viewed at nbcolympics.com if getting up at 4AM isn’t your thing.

Favorites (Medal Expected) 

• Men’s Water Polo: The Croatian men’s water polo team come into London oozing with confidence after defeating fellow Olympic teams Montenegro, Romania and 2008 gold medalists and 2012 favorites Hungary in the Dublin Cup. Hungary, Serbia and Croatia are considered the favorites in the water polo event that has been dominated by European teams in the past. These Olympics will be no different as the U.S, Australia and Kazakhstan are the only non-European teams in the 12 team field. In 2010, Croatia won the European Championships, beating Italy in the final and last year they finished third in the World Championships, where they lost to Italy in the semifinals before defeating Hungary in the 3^rd place game. They’ll be looking to forget this year’s Euros, where they lost to Germany and Serbia and failed to make it out of the group stage. Croatia’s star man Sandro Sukno, 22, shined at the Euros, where he was the tournament’s highest scorer, with 24 goals. 
• Croatia are the favorites in their group, alongside Italy, with Spain also having a chance to steal first. A top-two finish in the group should see Croatia avoid Hungary and Serbia in the quarterfinals. A top-four finish is necessary to qualify for the quarterfinals. Croatia plays Greece in their first game July 29^th at 5:00 EST. 

CroatianSports.com covers Croatia v. USA water polo on June 1st, 2012 

• Sandra Perković: Perković (22) is the favorite to win in a very deep women’s discus field. She began competing in the discus at age 16 and has been very successful despite going through health problems and a doping scandal. She placed second at the World Junior Championships in 2007 and third a year later before being diagnosed with appendicitis. The doctors failed to treat it correctly and her appendix burst three days later. She very nearly died and lost 35 pounds through the ordeal. Perković was miraculously able to start training just three months later and finished ninth in the 2009 world championships, her first senior competition. In 2010, Perković won the European Championships and had the longest discus throw in the world that year. In June 2011, she tested positive for a banned substance shortly after throwing the furthest throw in the 21^st century. She claimed it was a result of a sports drink she had and that it was unintentional. As a result, she was only suspended for six months. Since her return, she took this year’s European Championships and has the third longest throw in the world this year. The discus prelims are on August 3rd at 2:10 PM EST and the final will be held the next day at 2:30 EST.  

Perković at the 2012 European championships 

• Men’s Quadruple Sculls (Rowing): The team of Valent and Martin Sinković, David Sain and Damir Martin are considered the favorites to win by a majority of the Olympic odds makers. They are competing in quad sculls, which is a four man race of 2000 meters.  The men competed in other disciplines of rowing before they began rowing together in 2009 and were hugely successful from the get go. They were World Champions in 2010 and took bronze at the World Championships in 2011. They come into the Olympics off  three consecutive victories and get underway in the prelims on July 28^th at 6:30 (EST). There are three rounds prior to the final, which takes place on August 3^rd at 5:10 (EST). 

Interview with The Croatian Young Guns 

Medal Contenders

• Men’s Handball: Much like water polo, handball is dominated by European countries. South Korea, Tunisia and Argentina are the three non-European countries competing in this summer’s games. Unlike the water polo team, Croatia’s handballers will have a much tougher time in the group stage. All four semi-finalists from this year’s European Championships are present in Group B (Spain, Denmark, Croatia and Serbia). Croatia finished third at the Euros, losing to Serbia in the semis, and defeated Spain in the third place game. The other two teams are Hungary and South Korea. The group stage will likely be harder for Croatia than the quarterfinals as a result of the lopsided groupings. The top four teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals but a fourth place finish for Croatia will likely result in a quarterfinal matchup versus the favorites, France. Croatia begin play on July 29^th against South Korea at 6:15 EST. Their next game is a rematch of the semifinals from the Euros against Serbia. This match was heated to say the least as thousands of police were deployed. A dart was aimed at Croatian legend Ivano Balić, but hit Serbian player Zarko Sesum in the eye instead. The rematch is scheduled for July 31^st at 11:15 EST. 

Ivano Balić, 364 goals in 108 appearances for Croatia

• Taekwondo: The twin sisters Lucija and Ana Zaninović will both be looking to claim podium places in their weight classes in London. Lucija will compete in the flyweight (49kg) division and Ana in the bantamweight (57kg). Both sisters are coming into the Olympics full of confidence from recent results. Lucija has won the European Championships in its two most recent meetings (2010 and 2012). Ana finished second in this year’s Euros but managed to secure the World Championship for Croatia in 2011. Taekwondo has historically been dominated by Asian countries and if either woman is to medal, it would be the first time a European has medaled in Taekwondo. Lucija’s preliminary matches begin on August 8^th at 4:00 EST. Ana begins August 9^th at 4:00. Taekwondo is a one day competition and it will take four consecutive wins to be crowned champion. The finals will be held at 5:15 PM EST. 

• Wrestling: Croatia’s second pair of twins are also fighters. Nenad and Neven Zugaj compete in the 74kg and 84kg (respectively) Roman Greco weight classes. They are professors of kinesiology and have served in the Croatian Army.  Nenad achieved bronze at the 2010 World Championships while Neven finished bronze a year later. They will need a little luck on their side as the draw is completely unseeded and they could be paired with previous champions in the early rounds. Wrestling is also a one day event and it will take five consecutive wins to come out victorious. Nenad will compete on August 5^th and Neven on the 6^th. The first round begins at 8:00 EST and the finals take place at 1:25 PM EST.

• Filip Ude: Ude was the silver medalist in the Pommel horse at the 2008 games. He placed fifth in the Pommel horse and 22^nd overall at the 2010 World Championships. He will be competing in the artistic gymnastics and will attempt to secure his country another medal. The Pommel horse final will be held on August 5^th at 10:41 (EST)

• Women’s Handball: The women’s handball team will compete in the Olympics for the first time ever. They are in good form coming off of their seventh place finish at last year’s World Championships. The group stage uses a round robin format and the top four teams advance to the quarterfinals. Their group consists of Angola, Brazil, Great Britain, Montenegro and Russia. They are expected to advance to at least the ¼ finals. They begin their campaign against Brazil on July 28th at 9:30 (EST)

• Shooting:  Snježana Pejčić- Pejčić is one of the two returning medalists from Beijing. She will be competing in the 10m air rifle and her less favored 50m rifle-3 positions. She is ranked 10^th in the 10m but recently won a World Cup event in Sydney and will hope to repeat her success from Beijing. The prelims of the 10m rifle take place on July 28^th at 3:15 (EST) with the finals later that day at 6:00.

• Sailing: Each event consists of ten races plus a medal race. Points in each race are awarded according to position: the winner gets one point, second place gets two, etc. The final race is called the medal race, for which points are doubled. After the medal race, points are accumulated and the final standings are released. 

Tonči Stipanović: Stipanović will compete in the Men’s Radial. He placed second in the World Championships that took place this May and is currently ranked fifth in the event. He begins July 30^th at 7:00 (EST)

Igor Marenić and Šime Fantela: These two sail together in the Men’s 470 competitions. They placed ninth in Beijing and have had great success the past four years, winning the 2009 World Championships and finishing third in 2010, 2011 and 2012. They go into London with serious medal aspirations and will sail their first race August 2^nd at 7:00 (EST)

Ivan Gaspić: Gaspić will compete in the Finn competition. He placed fourth at this year’s World Championships and is ranked third worldwide. He begins July 29^th at 7:00 (EST)

Tina Mihelić: Mihelić will compete in the Laser Radial, where she is ranked 10th in the world. She placed sixth at the 2010 World Championships and 20th last year.  Her competition begins July 30th at 7:05 (EST).

Dark Horses

• Zoran Primorac: This will be a Croatian record seventh consecutive Olympic appearance for Primorac. Although still a relevant name in European table tennis, Zoran’s greatest success on the world stage was his silver medal in doubles in the 1988 Olympics. He has not medaled at a World Championship since 1999. Primorac, 43, will compete in the singles tournament. He also happens to be an idol of Dwight Shrute. Zoran is ranked 28^th in the world, and as a result, receives a bye in the preliminary and first rounds. The second round begins on July 29^th at 6:00 EST.

• Andras Haklits: Andras will be competing in his fourth Olympics when he takes part in the hammer throw.  His best finish came in 2008 where he finished 10^th. He became one of the few rare athletes to compete in both the Winter and Summer games when he took up bobsledding in 2009 and successfully qualified on Croatia’s 4-man bobsled team that finished in 20th. Andras will need to beat his personal best of 80.41 meters, which he set in 2005 if he hopes to contend for a spot on the podium. He’s had a tough time transitioning back to throwing and failed to make the finals at this year’s European Championships. Prelims- August 3^rd, 6:20 EST. Final- August 5^th, 3:20 EST 

• Women’s basketball: The Croatian Women’s basketball team will be making their debut at the Olympics after making an unlikely qualifying run. Expectations are fairly low for the team and a medal position seems unlikely but so did their qualifying. Their first task will be finishing top four in group play to qualify for the quarterfinals. They will face the U.S, China, Czech Republic, Turkey and Angola, who are also making their first Olympics, in group play. Fourth place will likely be fought out by Croatia, China and Angola. Croatia’s biggest strength may be their balance. In qualifying, they had four players average double digits which is even more impressive when you consider that the team averaged 70 points per game. Croatia begins their campaign against the heavy favorites to win gold, the U.S. The two teams met on July 21^st in an exhibition game and Croatia was thoroughly beaten 109-55. The two will play July 28^th at 11:45 EST. Croatia’s men’s team failed to qualify for the Olympics. 

• Karla Sitić: Karla, 20, will represent Croatia in the 10k (6.2 miles) open water marathon swim. She finished fifth at the European Championships last year and is considered a longshot. The winning times in the marathon are usually around two hours! Her race is August 9^th at 7:00 EST. 

Other Competitors 

These athletes are unlikely to finish in the top 8 of their events:

• Athletics: Ivan Horvat (Pole Vault, prelim-August 8^th, 5:00), Martin Marić (Discus, prelim- Aug 6, 5:00), Nedzad Mulabegović (Shot Put, prelim- Aug 3 , 5:00), Roland Varga (Discus, prelim- Aug 6, 5:00), Nikolina Horvat (400m hurdles, 1^st round: Aug 5^th at 2:00), Lisa Stublić (Marathon, Aug 5^th 6:00), Ana Šimić (High Jump, prelim- Aug 9^th ,4:30)
• Canoe: Dinko Mulić (Slalom, 22^nd in Athens, Prelims July 29^th– 8:30)
• Cycling: Radoslav Rogina (Road Race, July 28^th at 5:00), Kristijan Durasek (Road Race)
• Fencing:  Bojan Jovanović (Individual Foil, Round of 64- July 31^st at 5:30)
• Gymnastics:  Tina Erceg (Artistic Gymnastics, 1^st Croatian female gymnast, various times)
• Judo:  Tomislav Marijanović (81 kg, round of 64- July 31^st 4:30), Marijana Mišković (63 kg, Round of 32- July 31^st 4:30)
• Rowing: Mario Vekić (single sculls, heats- July 28^th 7:30)

Sailing: Petar Čupac and Pavle Kostov (49er, 16 races from July 30^th to Aug 8^th), Dan Lovrović and Marin Lovrović Jr. (Star, 11 races from July 29^th to Aug 5^th ), Enia Ninčević and Romana Zupan (470, 11 races from Aug 3^rd to 10^th), Luka Mratović (RS-X, 11 races from July 31^st to Aug 7^th), 

• Shooting: Giovanni Cernogoraz (Trap, prelims- Aug 5^th and 6^th), Bojan Durković (10m air rifle prelim- July 30^th at 4:00, 50m rifle 3 positions prelim- Aug 6^th at 4:00, 50m rifle prone- prelim Aug 3rd at 4:00), Anton Glasnović (Trap prelims- Aug 5^th , Double Trap, prelims on Aug 2^nd at 4:00), Petar Gorsa (10m air rifle, prelim July 30th at 4:00) 
• Swimming: Mario Todorović (50m freestyle, prelims on August 2^nd at 5 EST), Sanja Jovanović (100m backstroke, Prelims July 29^th at 5:00 EST), Kim Pavlin (200m backstroke- prelim August 2^nd at 6:45 EST, 200m medley- prelims July 30^th at 5:45 EST)
• Table Tennis: Andrej Gačina (Ranked 27^th in the world, 2nd round- July 29^th at 6:00 EST), Cornelia Molnar (43^rd in the world, prelims: July 28^th– 4:00), Tian Yuan (44^th in the world, prelims-  July 28^th-4:00)
• Tennis: Marin Čilić, Ivo Karlović , Ivan Dodig, Petra Martić are Croatia’s competitors in singles tennis.  All are long shots with Čilić the only player ranked in the top 20 in the world. Dodig and Čilić will participate in doubles together. The round of 128 for men’s and women’s singles, as well as the first round of doubles takes place on July 28^th and July 29^th. The draw will be held on the 26^th with the 16 highest ranked players getting seeded. Čilić is ranked 15^th and a few big names will be missing including Rafael Nadal, who has withdrawn due to injury.