On December 8, 2001, the heart of the best athlete of Bosnia and Herzegovina of all time, Mirza Delibasic, stopped beating.
Family and friends will gather today at 12:00 in the Alley of the Greats of the city cemetery “Bare” to pay tribute and mark the 24th anniversary of the death of the great Bosnian basketball player.
Kindje was the club champion of Yugoslavia twice, Spain, Europe and the world. With the Yugoslav national team, he was the champion of Europe twice, the world and an Olympic champion. As such, he is the most decorated European basketball player of all time. He is a resident of the FIBA Hall of Fame, in 2008 he was named one of the 35 players most responsible for the development of basketball in Europe. In 1980, he was officially named the best basketball player of Yugoslavia.
He was the best athlete of Bosnia and Herzegovina four times, and in 2000 he was named the athlete of the century of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He was the first coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team, with whom he won eighth place at the Eurobasket in Germany in 1993, which is still the best result of the Bosnian men’s basketball team.
Three books have been written about Mirza Delibasic’s life so far: “Lights for the Distance” by Slobodan Đurasović, “The Last Romantic” by Juan Francisco Escudero, and “Conversations with Mirza” by Juan Antonio Corbalan.
Several documentaries have been made about his character and work, among which “Shooting for Mirza” stands out, on which his son Danko Delibasic worked as one of the authors and producer. This work was also declared the best documentary at the film festival in Gijón, Spain.
In addition to the sports medal, Mirza Delibasic has also earned many human rights. He is the winner of the Sixth of April Award of the City of Sarajevo, the Charter of the International League of Humanists, the “Medal of Merit for the People” order from Josip Broz Tito, as well as numerous awards for his life’s work, both during his lifetime and posthumously, Federalna writes.
