Barbara Jelić and Croatia’s golden era in the 90s

In our review of 50 years of European Volleyball, at least under the aegis of the CEV, this time we virtually travel to the mid and late 90s, when – shortly after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia enjoyed the status of Volleyball powerhouse. Their women’s national team finished runners-up at the European Championships for as many as three editions in a row between 1995 and 1999. That golden era included a sixth place at the 1998 World Championship in Japan and seventh at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Even though Croatia has produced more elite players even afterwards, such as Maja Poljak, as a country and as a national team they have been unable to repeat those glory days from the 90s. The face of that ‘golden generation’ was undoubtedly Barbara Jelić, now known under her married name as Barbara Ružić. Her own father and coach, Ivica, was an elite player too, who represented Yugoslavia at the 1975 European Championships on home soil together with current CEV President Aleksandar Boričić. She was regarded as the world’s best female players of that era and together with her teammates, including former Soviet stars Irina Kirillova, Elena Cebukina and Tatiana Sidorenko, she helped Croatia achieve unprecedented – and still unmatched success on the international stage.

In an interview with Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List during EuroVolley 2021 in Zadar, she acknowledged that everything seemed to have fallen into place for Croatian women’s Volleyball at that time. A group of still young players could learn from very experienced ones – whose CV included Olympic gold from the 1988 Games in Seoul – who had left the former Soviet Union together with their legendary coach and mentor Nikolay Karpol. Following a journey to Russia at the age of 13, Barbara realised that talent would not have taken her too far, but that hard work was needed as well. Hard work, a system taken from the Russian / Soviet school, young talented players, and more experienced ones – all this combined together made Croatia a force to reckon with.

Even before Croatia won those EuroVolley medals, Mladost ZAGREB had achieved success in the Champions Cup, claiming top honours from the 1991 edition, with more medals to follow. Jelić has recognised that her development was fostered by the arrival in Zagreb of Karpol and three of the world’s best players at that time. As a 13-year-old girl, she would stand by and train with her role models, which certainly accelerated her own development.

Only time will tell if Croatia will be able to repeat that same success. What stands out is that shortly after gaining independence, Croatia made the EuroVolley podium three times in a row, losing only in the gold medal match to hosts the Netherlands in 1995 and to a mighty Russian team in 1997 and 1999. Croatian Volleyball fans certainly hope that at some point a group will come together to add another such glittering chapter to the history of their nation.

Many thanks to Barbara Ružić-Jelić and Iva Bule for providing pics from those glory days!