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 For Bosnians, Olympics Hold Possiblity of A Winning Moment
Karabasic, who lived near Vihac, where some of the heaviest fighting took place, is one of eight Bosnian Olympians -- a team made up of Serbs, Croats and Muslims joined together by sport and dreams -- who arrived in this lakeside city for three weeks of training for the Atlanta Games.
"It is magical for them," interpreter Marko Matic said."The ability to participate is a big honor in itself. Just that took 1½ years."
A coach, Senad Zulic, recalls one night when he and Karabasic fled mortar fire by helicopter to Zagreb, Croatia. "Just imagine how it was..." Zulic said through the interpreter. "Traveling in a helicopter up in the air hearing the shots." All their equipment and belongings were left behind, Zulic said, and they had nothing but the clothes they were wearing. But they began to re-equip with donations and help from the International Olympic Committee and other countries.
"Everything is new since the rescue," he said.
For now, Karabasic is training in a battered kayak he brought from Zagreb, but the team is working on getting a new boat for competition. He will practice his technique and work on his strength on flatwater -- nearby Logan Martin Lake -- for two weeks, then move to the Olympic venue, Tennessee’s Ocoee River, on July 6.
The ethnic fighting in their homeland is not a popular topic with team members and their staff. Karabasic and his coach said team officials had asked them not to discuss the war. Team manager Slaven Kovacevic said some of the athletes were soldiers but none was on the front lines. He declined to discuss the military backgrounds of specific athletes.
Despite the backdrop of the war, table tennis player Tarik Hodzic said there is no fighting on the team and religion is considered a personal matter. The athletes think of themselves as Bosnians, he said. "The atmosphere of the team is very good," Hodzic said.
Hodzic left Bosnia before the war, joining a Belgian team, then lived in France to train for the Olympics. But his family remained behind in Bosnia and worries for their safety were a constant strain. With the help of the peace agreement reached in Dayton, Ohio, the team was able to set its sights on the Olympics. The six men and two women arrived together from Frankfurt, Germany, on Thursday and will spend much of their non-training time in Pell City as a group.
Before the war, Hodzic said, all the ethic groups lived together and there were no fights or misunderstandings. He hopes it will be that way again. "We have the best athletes for any sports -- if they are Serbs or Croatians it is the same," he said. "That’s going to be the reality of life in Bosnia."
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PELL CITY, Alabama, June 20 (AP) -- Ask about anything, but not about the war. These athletes have had enough of that. Most of the men and women representing war-ravaged Bosnia in the 1996 Summer Olympics survived months of bloodshed to get here. When you ask kayaker Samir Karabasic about winning a gold medal, he smiles with a far-off look in his eyes. Just getting here, he said through an interpreter, is a success.
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BOSNIA & THE OLYMPIC GAMES
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The Balkans to Come to Atlanta The Atlanta Constitution
Bosnia Breakup tested will of IOC The Atlanta Games
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