Master Andrija
Mijacika
(1954-2002)
Croatian team: '92 Barcelona Olympics: Drazen Madjarevic, Miet Filipovic,
Dragan Jurilj,
Andrija Mijacika (coach)
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Andrija Mijacika started his career as a taekwondo competitor
& coach.
In 1973 he joined the "Metalac" club and stayed there throughout his suc-
cessful career. He came fifth in the 1984 World Taekwondo Championship
in Glasgow, he won two Yugoslav and three Croatian Championships.
Both Andrija Mijacika and taekwondo sport were coming of age parallel.
Both the sport and its leading man became inextricably intertwined until
the
moment of Andrija's final departure. In 1981 he became the Secretary
General of the Croatioan Taekwondo Association, and later on he was
highly successful as the Head of the National Team as well as the Head of
the Organizing Committees of numerous taekwondo events taking place in
Croatia.
At the time of Croatia becoming an independent country he was already
an established and widely respected coach. In 1993 he became the Secre-
tary General of the Zagreb Sports Association. His exceptional sports
education as well as his genuine personal charisma led him into the
visionary
feats, thus starting successful transformation in the whole of Croatian
sports.
In these years of his most intense leadership the Croatian taekwondo
team brought home almost 50 medals, won in official European and world
championships.
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