JELIC Matea

General
CHAMPION'S INSPIRATION
After she required surgery due to internal bleeding caused during a bout at the 2013 Croatian Junior Championships, she met Croatian alpine skier and four-time Olympic gold medallist Janica Kostelic. She says the meeting was an important moment in her career. "Doctors told me that I was in a critical condition. My mother was worried about me, and when she went out of the hospital at one point she saw Janica Kostelic. She asked her to go to my room to hug me and encourage me to not give up on sport. And Janica did exactly that. She talked with me and I was crying of happiness. It was a moment that turned everything upside down in my life and I am sure that it was not a coincidence that Janica appeared at the worst moment of my life. I didn't go to the European junior championships that year, but I became the world junior champion the following year [2014]. Janica may not remember that, but I would like to thank her for this gesture, and I will do it in person if I meet her again. I hope that one day I will be such an inspiration to someone, like she was for me." (vecernji.hr, 11 Apr 2021)