While our athletes prove that they can achieve top results, without adequate support, the chances of that are significantly reduced. They pointed to this on the eve of the departure for the European Games in Krakow, demanding urgent and systemic changes on the issue of financing top sports. Otherwise, they threaten to strike in front of government institutions and Office of the High Representative.
Nedžad Džanković is a multiple champion and record holder of Bosnia and Herzegovina in archery. Unlike its competitors and carpenter. His story is an indication of the absurdity that athletes live every day, left to their own devices in a country that has no law on sports and where politics has neglected it. This is, for example, the initiative of Zlatko Miletić to award top athletes larger funds, the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly – refused.
When someone who is lucky rises from the ashes of Bosnia and Herzegovinasports, politicians who do not miss the opportunity to congratulate, should ask themselves – how many medals should have been awarded and how many anthems should have been played in honor of our country. And it’s not, precisely because of them.
“I’m not disappointed, I’m used to it, they don’t want VAT or excise taxes, or anything else that will improve the lives of our citizens. My personal impression was that they won’t want anything with the BH prefix, every success offends them, I have a feeling”, Zlatko Miletic, delegate in the Club of Croats in the House of Peoples of the PSBiH.
“Everything ends with giving some kind of declarative support, promises, but when it comes to organizing it systematically, there is no such thing, and that is the problem that athletes in Bosnia and Herzegovina are facing. We do not see a solution to this in the near future. in the dark, without a concrete goal. Money does not guarantee success, but it is certainly a prerequisite”, Emir Delic, a sports journalist, said.
“When we look at the countries in the region, their organization of sports and the results they achieve are like that because the whole system, the whole country, is at a standstill. All the officials are at your service. We are not looking for some of our personal benefits, but only to ensure conditions for us, and we will through the results earn and enjoy it”, athlete Amel Tuka said.
If something is not urgently and systematically changed, BH Olympians will protests in front of the institutions of BiH and the OHR, and one of the steps would be not going to the Olympic Games, where due to negligence, many who were born in our country performed for neighboring countries.
