With the wind from Adelaide in the sails Milivoj Dukić sailed to France and less than half a year before the start of the Games in Paris became the first Montenegrin athlete with an Olympic visa.
It is not realistic, however, that the great sailor from Herceg Novi will be alone on July 26, when the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games begins on the Seine, although our athletes will have to work hard for the remaining seats on the plane flying to Paris.
The Montenegrin trump cards in team sports will have the most chances - handball players, water polo players and, for the first time, basketball players.
"Sharks" are next
Ever since Montenegro has been performing independently at the Games, our water polo players have never missed one of the editions of the biggest sports event - they were in Beijing, London, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, and they will fight for the fifth consecutive appearance this February.
The World Championship starts in Doha on Monday, where only four tickets to Paris await. Apart from Montenegro, among the big water polo nations, Italy, Croatia and Serbia have not qualified for the Olympic Games, so there should be a big surprise and the chosen ones Vladimir Gojković they do not "grab" one of the remaining visas.
To go to Paris, it should be enough for them to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
"Lavice" against Adžić and Germany
Similar to water polo players, Montenegrin handball players are regular participants in the Olympic Games (they did not perform only in Beijing), and they will start their journey to Paris via Ulm.
The German city on the Danube will be the host of the qualification tournament from April 11 to 14, and the rivals of the Lionesses are the host, Slovenia, which is led by the former coach of Montenegro. Dragan Adzic and Paraguay.
The place below the Olympic rounds in Paris will be won by the two best teams from the tournament.
A basketball dream
Thanks to the unforgettable Mundobasket in the Philippines, the Montenegrin basketball team came closer than ever to one of the strongest and most prestigious tournaments in every edition of the Olympic Games.
Guys Boško Radović they will have a tough job in qualifying, but not an impossible mission.
Montenegro will fight for an Olympic visa from July 2 to 7 at the pre-Olympic tournament in Riga, from which only the best of the six participants will end up in Paris.
Our selection is in a group with Brazil and Cameroon, while Latvia, Georgia and the Philippines are in the second group. The best two from both groups will advance to the semi-finals, after which the winners of those matches will fight for the realization of the Olympic dream.
Bojana, Anđela, Zinedin, Marija, boxing, swimming...
The lights of Paris are also dreamed of by Montenegrin representatives in individual sports, above all Bojana Gojković, Angela Berishaj, Marija Vuković, Jovana Peković, Zinedin Bećović, but also several other young and talented boxers, while two wild cards are waiting for two swimmers...
Marija Vuković is far from the form from the Games in Tokyo (final) and European Championships in Munich (silver), currently she has problems with an injury, so she will only start fighting for the Olympic Games from April. The norm for Paris is 197 centimeters, which is one centimeter more than her jump in the final of the last Games, and two more than the result that brought her European silver.
Judoka Jovana Peković is also collecting points for her second Games from the tournament, and if it is not enough in the end, she could receive a special invitation from the International Judo Federation, just like before Tokyo.
Boxers will also have two opportunities to go to the capital of France - in Milan and in Thailand.
Bojana Gojković will be boxing in the City of Fashion from February 29. Stefan Savkovic i Petar Marcic. Unlike Bojana, for whom the semi-finals and medal in Milan mean a trip to Paris, the problem for our boxers, who won seven major international medals last season, is the smaller number of categories.
Outside the program, the OI are easy and semi-heavy, which presents a problem for the selector Nikola Ružić, because Tomislav Djinovic is a rising star up to 60 kilograms, while Petar Liješević - the best young senior in Europe - boxes in light heavyweight and can be expected to be in a skeleton of up to 82 kilograms for the performance in Thailand.
Montenegro also has great hopes in taekwondo - Anđela Berishaj and Zinedin Bećović have shown with their results that they are very close to realizing their dream and going to the Olympic Games.
Swimmers Jovan Kuljač i Miloš Milenkovic they will be the representatives of Montenegro at the upcoming WC in Doha, and thus they will also receive wild cards for the Olympic Games.
In addition to all of them, it is possible that Montenegro will receive one of the special invitations, as was the case at the previous Games with athletics, archery...
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