There are not even 20 meters between Škver, the home of Vatepolo and the Jadran swimming club, and the Jugola Grakalić Sailing Club.
From that Herzegovinian area, from a city with a population of about 30 thousand inhabitants, Montenegro will be represented in Tokyo by 11 athletes - a third of the total number of Olympians.
There should have been 12 of them, although Danka Kovinić is not "from water", but from slag and concrete, but our best tennis player had to cancel her performance due to an injury. Herceg Novi has long been a water polo city, Jadran has been the best and most organized club in Montenegro for many years, and even nine out of 12 members of the Montenegrin national team either played or still play at the legendary Škver.
Aleksandar Ivović, Slaven Kandić, Marko Petković, Vlado Popadić, Stefan Vidović, Aleksa Ukropina, Vladan Spaić, Dušan Banićević and Petar Tešanović will defend the colors of Montenegro at the Olympic tournament, try to bring the first medal, after the previous three generations stopped at the last steps and won fourth place in Beijing, London and Rio.
- It is an understatement to say that we are proud of the fact that so many people from Jadran play for the national team of Montenegro. There is no big secret in that - work and only work, we take care of the younger selections, we try to create the best possible conditions for them, and the tradition is such that water polo in Novi is, to say the least, loved - says Jadran director Miloš Mračević.
If Herceg Novi is the Olympic city, the Adriatic is the Olympic environment - a total of 38 athletes from the Adriatic have participated in the Olympic Games since the Second World War until today, of which 25 were born in Herceg Novi, and 13 played for the club from Novi (24 water polo players and four swimmer).
Many of them, like Aleksandar Ivović, are multiple Olympians.
- That is why we are planning, and we have made a conceptual solution for the Wall of Olympians, on which the names of all of them will be written. We will, of course, leave room for new ones, because we believe that the tradition will continue - Mračević points out.
Jadran in Tokyo is also represented by young swimmer Anđela Antunović, who will compete in the 100-meter freestyle.
Another water sport path was taken by Milivoj Dukić, who from JK Jugola Grakalić, set off on a journey to the seas of the world and gained the status of an Olympian-veteran -
The Games in Tokyo will be the third in his career, at only 28 years old.
There are 11 athletes, but there are more people from Novlja in the Olympic team.
Vladimir Gojković and Miloš Šćepanović, our famous water polo players, are now in the professional staff - Gojković as a selector, Šćepanović as a coach, and with them are Zoran Ivanovski and Milan Ćirović. Physiotherapist Dejan Mihajlović is part of the team. Danijela Franeta (née Đikanović), the selector of the swimming team, is also from Herceg Novi, while Predrag Dabović is the doctor of the COK Olympic mission in Tokyo.
Herceg Novi is not only an Olympic city, but also an Olympic phenomenon...
Bonus video:
