RK Olimpija

Rokometni Klub Olimpija (English: Olimpija Handball Club), commonly referred to as RK Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a women's team handball club from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Handball club was established in 1950 as RK Enotnost, it changed names several times throughout its history. Olimpija currently competes in the Slovenian first league of handball for women.

Club history

1949–1965^[1]

In 1949 Mitja Vidic organized a handball tournament between high schools in Ljubljana and invited the best players of the tournament to join the handball section of the sports club Enotnost. After the club disbanded in 1950 its handball section became an independent handball club which changed its name to Svoboda in 1953.
As the Slovene champions in 1950 Enotnost participated that year in the final Yugoslavian handball tournament where they came second. This achievement made it possible for the team to compete in the federal national league. In their first season in the league Enotnost finished fifth of six teams.
The team made its international debut on 7 July 1951, when Enotnost played against the Austrian team Grazer SV; the end result was a 6:4 win for the Austrians.
New name, new successes – in 1953 handball team Svoboda surprised with an outstanding second place in the Slovene national championship. Over the next few years Svoboda was the leading Slovene handball team and a regular competitor in the national championship final tournaments.
After 1960 the team encountered a setback and was pushed to the middle of the Slovene league standings. In 1964 Svoboda was relegated from the national league and competed in the so-called Ljubljana regional league. An all important milestone for the club was 1965, when team Svoboda enlisted players from the Olimpija handball section and competed under the name Svoboda-Olimpija.

1965–1979^[2]

Božo Strman, the president of the club between 1961 and 1968, invited players from the then best handball team in Ljubljana – Šiška to join the club and a mighty Olimpija was created.
In this period Mitja Vidic organized handball practices in schools and designed meticulously planned training schedules for Olimpija’s first team. Results of such strategic and hard work were soon to be seen and the team finished the 1965/1966 season in third place. Next seasons were spent in the middle of the standings but in 1972 Olimpija finished second in the Slovene national league and could therefore compete in the second federal (Yugoslavian) league. Olimpija competed in the second federal league for the next ten seasons.

1979–1989^[3]

Team, based on a vision and built with the hard work of many handball enthusiasts in Ljubljana has achieved a historic success and one of its major goals in 1983 – Olimpija became a member of the Yugoslavian first handball federal league. The club also formed a new management team which has embarked upon fulfilling a very ambitious strategy. The best Slovene handball players were invited to join Olimpija and in the next seasons some well-established Yugoslav handball players came to Ljubljana as well.
Olimpija players and staff in the 1. federal league. Standing from the left are Dare Jelčič (tehnični vodja), Mara Samardžija, Cvetka Kelc, Željka Maras, Jožica Sušnik, Maja Goljar, Marta Bon, Leopold Jeras (Head coach), Borut Penko (Assistant coach); lower file: Ines Černe, Milija Tomšič, Ada Boštjančič, Zdenka Dežman, Gorana Ivanovič in Sonja Čotar.
In the 1981/1982 season the club’s president became Igor Makovec. He managed to persuade individuals such as Vladimir Češnovar, Dare Jelčič, Zoran Tomšič, Ivan Sušnik, Karel Destovnik, Rajko Jauh, Srečko Ivanič, Peter Tevž, Gregor Kit, Milan Knez, Miloš Helmich, Radivoj Stanič and Jaka Jurček to actively contribute to Olimpija. In this period Olimpija also secured the expertise of Vanja Vuga, M.D.
Olimpija’s head coach became Leopold Jeras and among new team players were Samardžija, Ivanovič, Černe, Bon, Štrukelj, Čotar and Lušina. With such reinforcements success was inevitable and Olimpija ended the 1982/1983 season first in the second federal league (with only one loss) and thus for the first time in club’s history Olimpija qualified to compete in the first federal league.
Olimpija started its first season among the best handball clubs in Yugoslavia (1983/1984) with a win against ORK Beograd and ended the season ninth (in the league of 12). Olimpija surprised even more in the Yugoslav cup competition where it was a finalist! Next two seasons saw Olimpija fifth, their standing improved by one position in the 1986/1987 season and the following two seasons Olimpija finished third.

1990–2007^[4]

First few seasons in independent Slovenia were, judging by results, extremely successful, but unfortunately the results were increasingly overshadowed by financial difficulties. Olimpija managed to sustain minimal financial and organizational structure but nothing more. New ambitions, plans and strategies were presented in 1995 when Olimpija was taken over by the company Robit ltd and its CEO Robert Žitnik became the club’s new president.

Olimpija thus gained a new momentum and the players’ quality was proved (once more) by results in the national league and cup competitions. In the national league Olimpija until the year 2000 never ended the season lower than in the runner-up position and between 1991 and 1999 the players also experienced five cup finals and three semi-finals. In the 1994/1995 season Olimpija competed in the champions league and was eighth, but the season, inscribed with gold letters in the club annals, was 1996/1997, when Robit Olimpija won the European Handball Federation Cup. This period boasts the most important results for Olimpija, the team that became known throughout Europe for its fast, modern handball game and technical prowess.

Before the next season Tivoli sports hall hosted the Europe Top Four Robit Cup – the 4. European Cup Winners Tournament (1997). The winning team was Spanish Mar Valencia, Istočnik (Rostov, Russia) took second place, Robit Olimpija (weakened by numerous injuries) came third and Frankfurter Handball Club from Germany was fourth.

The beginning of the new millennium wasn’t very favorable for Olimpija and it had to face various problems. Nonetheless Olimpija was still able to achieve notable results in the national league and cup. We can refer to the period between 1999 and 2003 as ‘crisis years’ but the new club’s president Dušan Kecman managed to overturn the trend and stabilize the club. After the conditions improved somewhat, more and more ambitious plans for Olimpija begun to emerge and will be fully developed in the forthcoming seasons.

2008–09^[5]

Olimpija in its sixties!

Olimpija entered the 2008/2009 season with new management and the team's head coach Robert Beguš can boast with many new players and other staff members. Besides perspective young Slovene players Olimpija has rounded the team up with Slovene national representatives Miša Marinček, Katja Čerenjak and Nina Jeriček.

The club has also ensured the support of new sponsors and looks towards the future with ambitions raised high. The main motivation for all the hard work put into the team is the goal of returning to the highest positions in Slovene women’s handball as well as boldly reaching towards the best handball teams in Europe.

2009 was a very special year for Olimpija, because the team celebrated its 60. birthday. We honoured an exceptional jubilee of a club, which has managed to combine love for handball and expert (sports) leadership in the Slovene capital and made it possible for Olimpija to reach the very top of European handball. On this path (and as all paths it has its ups and downs) we continue to walk, proud of the tradition we are bringing with us. Olimpija moves forever forward, towards new successes and challenges...

Club supporters

The club has no organised fans.

Arena

Olimpija plays its home matches at Hala Tivoli.

Club honours

Domestic

Slovenian First League of Handball

• 1991/1992 winners
• 1992/1993 winners
• 1993/1994 winners
• 1994/1995 second place
• 1995/1996 second place
• 1996/1997 second place
• 1997/1998 second place
• 1998/1999 second place
• 1999/2000 second place
• 2004/2005 third place
• 2005/2006 third place

Handball Cup of Slovenia

• 1991/1992 winners
• 1992/1993 semifinals
• 1993/1994 semifinals
• 1994/1995 semifinals
• 1995/1996 finals
• 1996/1997 finals
• 1997/1998 winners
• 1998/1999 finals
• 1999/2000 finals
• 2000/2001 semifinals
• 2001/2002 4th place
• 2002/2003 finals
• 2003/2004 4th place
• 2004/2005 finals
• 2005/2006 4th place
• 2006/2007 1/4 finals
• 2007/2008 4th place

Yugoslavian

European

EHF Cup

1987/1988 – semifinals EHF Cup

1989/1990 1/4 finals EHF Cup

1996/1997 winners of EHF Cup

Women's EHF Champions League

1994/95 – 8th place in EHF Champions league (women)

References

External links

• Official website (Slovene)
• 2008–09 EHF season