Kačić in 1956
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1932-01-13)January 13, 1932 Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia |
| Died | February 14, 2023(2023-02-14) (aged 91) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Water polo |
Medal record | |
Hrvoje Kačić (13 January 1932 – 14 February 2023) was a Croatian water polo player, legal scholar and politician.
Kačić was born in Dubrovnik on 13 January 1932.[1] At the age of 18, Kačić played for the Yugoslavia national water polo team at the 1950 European Water Polo Championship at which the team won bronze.[2] During the 1950s he became out of favour with Yugoslavia's communist regime and had his passport confiscated on three occasions.[2] He was jailed by the regime in 1952 which prevented him from joining the national team at the 1952 Summer Olympics.[2] He was also expelled from university.
Kačić competed with the national team at the 1956 Summer Olympics, during which his friend and teammate Ivo Štakula defected to Australia.[2] In 1957, he was awarded the Sportske novosti Croatian Sportsman of the Year. At the 1959 Mediterranean Games he won a gold medal.[1] On the club level he was a long-time member of Croatian waterpolo club Jug from Dubrovnik, multiple national champion.
In 1956 he finished a degree in law.[3] He later finished a doctorate in law in 1965 at the University of Zagreb, specializing in maritime law.[4] Kačić also wrote about history.[5] He has collaborated with Ivo Pilar Institute of History.[6]
Kačić was elected to the Croatian Parliament for the first time in the country's first democratic elections in 1990 as an independent candidate.[7] From 1994 to 2001 he was president of the State Commission for Borders of the Republic of Croatia.[7]
In 1994 he received the Croatian Olympic Committee's Matija Ljubek Award.[8] He has served on the committee which gives out the Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport.[9] Kačić still actively supported Croatian water polo, retaining a position in the Croatian Water Polo Federation and supporting the national team.[10]
Kačić died on 14 February 2023, at the age of 91.[11]
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