From the special reporter "Vijesti"
Before the departure of the Montenegrin national team to Paris, water polo circles could hear yes Vladimir Gojkovic he will not remain a coach after the Olympic Games.
Maybe something would have changed if our selection had made a good result in the City of Light (if it had reached, for example, the semi-finals and the fight for a medal), but after missing the knockout stage for the first time in history, there was obviously no more dilemma.
The water polo delegation left Paris on Tuesday, two days later there was a change - Gojković is no longer the selector, he will not extend his contract that expired at the end of the Games. Vlado's nine-year reign on the bench of the senior selection was thus put to an end.
- I had the great honor of serving as the selector of the water polo national team of Montenegro. For me, the greatest possible achievement in a coaching career is to be a selector in my country - said Gojković in a statement published by the Water Polo and Swimming Association.
With him, Montenegro did not reach the heights that everyone wanted.
- Thank you to the three presidents of the Association with whom I cooperated - all the time I felt absolute support from them, as well as from all the members of the management boards. Also, thanks to all the sports workers, coaches with whom I worked and of course all the players. I hope that Montenegrin water polo will go on an upward trajectory, and I will always try, as far as my possibilities allow, to be available for water polo in Montenegro - said Gojković.
He succeeded the legendary water polo player on the bench in August 2015 Ranko Perović, after successfully starting his coaching career in his Jadran.
The debut could not have been better, Montenegro won European silver in Belgrade in January 2016, but at that time it was still one of the best teams in the world - with brothers Janović, Aleksandar Ivović, Predrag Jokić...
After that, however, only one more medal from the biggest competitions was seen - bronze in Budapest 2020. Two titles in the World League are also remembered - in 2018 and 2021. With him on the bench, the "sharks" drastically rejuvenated the team after the Olympic Games in Tokyo. , but even that newer generation did not live up to expectations - so our national team has not "seen" the semi-finals for four and a half years.
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The results were not good enough, the games as well, and neither were the relations within and around the national team, so it is remembered that during Gojković's mandate, the cap of the senior national team was "taken off" ahead of time. Darko Brguljan, Aleksandar Radović, Nikola Vukčević, Vjekoslav Pasković...
This year, Montenegro had three major competitions - at the EP and WC in January and February, respectively, it played in the quarter-finals, at the OI in Paris it could not do it either - it will be remembered that Gojković said goodbye to the match against Romania, which had no significance in terms of results.
- Although going to the Olympic Games is a great success in itself, especially because the water polo national team was the only team from Montenegro that qualified, in the conversation with the Government we shared a common position on this issue. I want to thank him for his more than dedicated work and achieved results. I am convinced that in the future Vlado will give a lot more to Montenegrin water polo - said the president of VPSCG Djuro Marić.
The national team is thus at a new beginning, it will enter the "Los Angeles 2024" project with a new coach.
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