CROATIA (second part):
Ivica Kostelić (alpine skier)
Ivica Kostelić (born November 23, 1979) is a
World Cup alpine ski racer from
Croatia (the elder brother of early metioned Janica Kostelić.) He specializes in
slalom and
combined, but is also one of the few alpine World Cup ski racers able to score points in all disciplines.
After considerable success in junior competitions, Kostelić's
World Cup career has alternated between triumph and injury. His main accomplishments include a
World Championship gold medal in
slalom in
2003,
Olympic silver medal in slalom in
2010, Olympic silver medals in
combined in
2006 (traditional combined) and
2010 (super combined), and the overall
World Cup title in 2011.
Kostelić has scored a total of with 24
World Cup race victories (as of February 2012) and a total of 52
World Cup podiums during his career. He won the slalom World Cup title in 2002 and 2011, and the combined World Cup title in 2011 and 2012.
Since 2008, he has finished among the top six in the overall World Cup standings each season (2008: sixth; 2009: fourth; 2010: fifth; 2011: first). He has also scored points in all disciplines each of those seasons, and his best race results (as of March 2011) are a seventh place in downhill, a second place in giant slalom, and victories in all other disciplines (11 in slalom, 1 in parallel-slalom, 2 in combined, 3 in
super combined, and 1 in
Super G).
Monika Leskovar (cello player)
Croatian cellist Monika Leskovar (born Kreutztal, Germany, 1981), studied with Dobrila Berkovic-Magdalenic at Elly Bašic Music School in Zagreb and later with Valter Dešpalj. In 1996 she became a student of David Geringas at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where - from 2006 to 2011 - she was an assistant. From October 2012 she teaches cello at Lugano Conservatory of Music in Switzerland.
In masterclasses she worked together with Mstislav Rostropovitch and Bernard Greenhouse. Winner of several prizes at international cello competitions - International Tchaikovsky for Young Musicians (Sendai, 1995), Antonio Janigro (Zagreb, 1996), Rostropovich (Paris, 1997), Eurovision Grand Prix (Vienna, 1998), Roberto Caruana “Stradivari” (Milano, 1999), International ARD (Munchen 2001), 5th Adam (New Zealand, 2003). Sofia Gubaidulina says of her: “Monika perfectly performed my
Preludes for solo violoncello… She is truly remarkable, and simply I adore her… Monika is the sort of talent that only appears by the Grace of God”.
Since 2005 she collaborates with the cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima, with whom she recorded the album “We Were Trees”, recently published by Sony/BMG.
In 2008 she recorded the G-major Cello Concerto of Stamitz and the Danzi Variations on a theme from “Don Giovanni” for the label OEMHS classics.
Tomislav Mužek (tenor and opera singer)
Tomislav Mužek (born 28 May 1976) is a
Croatian tenor and
opera singer.
He studied in
Vienna at the
University of Music and Performing Arts and made his professional debut at the
Vienna State Opera in 1999.
Was an ensemblemember of the
Bremen Stadttheater from 2000-2002 where he sung roles as: Don Ottavio, Ferrando, Tamino, Alfredo, Rodolfo. Now he is performing as a freelancer singing major
lyric tenor parts in opera houses as:
Teatro alla Scala Milan,
Opéra Bastille Paris,
Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse,
Bayerische Staatsoper Munich,
Bayreuther Festspiele,
Semperoper Dresden,
Opernhaus Zürich. He is represented by the
Opera & Concert agency.
NESSUN DORMA (G. Puccini), peformed by Tomislav Mužek - (2008):
Sandra Perković (discus thrower)
Sandra Perković (born 21 June 1990) is a
Croatian discus thrower, reigning
European and
Olympic champion.
Perković's successful junior career culminated in winning gold at the
2009 European Junior Championships with a new national record. A month later, she made the final of the
World Championships as the youngest discus thrower in the field.
In her first year of senior competition she won gold at the
2010 European Championships, becoming the youngest ever European champion in women's discus throw. A six-month doping suspension after testing positive for a banned
psychostimulant kept her out of competition for most of the 2011 season, including the
World Championships, but she returned in strong form in 2012 and successfully defended her title in the
European Championships.
Perković is coached by
Ivan Ivančić, a former Olympic shot putter. Her personal best and national record is 69.11 meters, set in August 2012 at the
2012 Olympics in London, where she reached the golden medal.
Miroslav Radman (scientist)
Miroslav Radman (born April 30, 1944 in
Split) is a prominent
Croatian biologist and a member of the
French Academy of Sciences. Radman's specialty is
DNA repair; in 1974 he discovered the
SOS response. He is now a professor of
cellular biology at the Faculté de Médecine - Necker, Université Paris V,
Paris, France.
Radman is a co-founder of the
Mediterranean Institute For Life Sciences.
In 2011 Radman won the FEMS-
Lwoff Award, given out by the
Federation of European Microbiological Societies, for his research of DNA repair mechanism in
Deinococcus radiodurans.
Goran Višnjić (actor)
Goran Višnjić (born September 9, 1972) is a
Croatian actor who has appeared in American and British films and television productions. He is best known for his role as Dr.
Luka Kovač in the hit television series
ER.
(I hope you watched this, it was one of the best series I've ever seen:
.
Now credited as
Goran Višnjić in his English-language work, he adopted the simplified spelling of his name when he came to the United States in the late '90s, believing it would be more accessible to American audiences.
Višnjić was named
People magazine's Sexiest Import in 1999 and "One of TV's Sexiest Men" in the June 5–11, 2005
TV Guide. He was ranked #18 in Croatian-based monthly film magazine
Hollywood in
Best Croatian Male Movie Stars of All Time list in November 2005. He was also named as the Best Croatian actor in 2004 according to the votes of the visitors of internet magazines, for his role in the movie
Duga mračna noć, according to the votes of Croatian newspaper
Večernji list.
