Olympics 2024: Croatia wins its first medal in Paris

by croatiaweek
July 29, 2024
in Sport

Miran Maričić

Croatia claimed its first medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on Monday.

Shooter Miran Maričić (27) has won the bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle, Final with an impressive performance.

Petar Gorša, the other Croatian finalist, finished in sixth place.

The Croatian shooter ended up in third place, behind China’s Sheng and Sweden’s Lindgren. India’s Babuta finished fourth, Italy’s Solazzo fifth, Croatia’s Gorša sixth, South Korea’s Choe seventh, and Argentina’s Gutierrez in eighth place.

“Thank you for the congratulations. My hand wasn’t steady; it was a very tense final. The guys were scoring high decimals; a 10.5 didn’t mean much. You had to shoot a 10.6 or 10.7. I made a mistake and struggled a lot to concentrate. My heart rate was high, but that’s to be expected in a final. In the end, it’s a bronze medal. My dreams have come true,” said the bronze-winning Croatian shooter Miran Maričić to HRT and continued:

“I hope no one wakes me up from this dream in the morning. My dream has come true. After all the medals, I now have an Olympic one around my neck. I can’t believe it.”

Petar Gorša, the other Croatian finalist, finished in sixth place.

Maričić, who is from Bjelovar, was a former Junior World Champion. In he won bronze at the 2018 ISSF World Shooting Championship and was also at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Miran was a previous winner of the Dražen Petrović Award for talented young athletes and teams for outstanding sporting results and sports development in Croatia.

Miran Maričić na olimpijskom postolju, cijela 🇭🇷 je oduševljena broncom! 🥰👏

📷 D. Senčar / HOO pic.twitter.com/zGtPlPbCN6
— Hrvatski olimpijski odbor (@hrv_olimp_odbor) July 29, 2024