Slovenia at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Infobox Olympics Slovenia
games=2004 Summer
competitors=79 (56 men, 23 women)
sports=10
flagbearer=Beno Lapajne
officials=
gold=0
silver=1
bronze=3
total=4
rank=63

Slovenia, represented by the [http://www.olympic.si/ Slovenian Olympic Committee] (abbreviated OKS), competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The delegation of 79 athletes was the nation's largest ever.

Medalists

Silver

*Luka Špik and Iztok Čop — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls

Bronze

*Urška Žolnir — Judo, Women's 63 kg

*Vasilij Žbogar — Sailing, Open Laser

*Jolanda Čeplak — Athletics, Women's 800 metres

Results by event

=Athletics=

With nine Olympic and fifteen World Championships medals, Merlene Ottey was the most notable member of the Slovenian athletics team in Athens. Ottey had good openings to both the 100 and 200 metres, making semifinals in both, but could not qualify out of the 100 metres, and injured her hamstring in the 200 metres.

A pair of Slovenian athletes came out on the losing end of dead heats, but with very different overall results. In the men's 100 metres, Matic Osovnikar recorded the same time as a Brazilian runner in his heat, but as Osovnikar finished less than one-hundreth of a second behind, the Brazilian moved to the semifinal, while Osovnikar went out of the competition. A similar close finish was seen in the women's 800 metres final, where 2002 European champion Jolanda Čeplak also finished less than 0.01 seconds behind an opponent, ending up equal on time, but finishing in bronze medal spot, rather than silver. Čeplak was also pressed closely from behind, earning bronze by just 0.08 seconds.

Men's 100 metres:
* Matic Osovnikar:*Round 1 — 10.15 s (3rd in heat 4, "Qualified", T-9th overall) ("Slovenian Record"):*Round 2 — 10.26 s (4th in heat 2, did not advance, 26th overall)

Men's 200 metres:
* Matic Osovnikar:*Round 1 — 20.57 s (4th in heat 6, "Qualified", 11th overall) ("Personal Best"):*Round 2 — 20.47 s (4th in heat 3, "Qualified", 13th overall) ("Slovenian Record"):*Semifinal — 20.89 s (8th in semifinal 2, did not advance, T-15th overall)

Men's 400 metres:
* Matija Šestak :*Round 1 — 45.88 s (4th in heat 7, "Qualified", T-22nd overall):*Semifinal — 46.54 s (7th in semifinal 2, did not advance, 23rd overall)

Men's Marathon:
* Roman Kejžar :*2:23:34 (54th overall)

Men's 110 metre Hurdles:
* Damjan Zlatnar :*Round 1 — 13.66 s (7th in heat 2, "Qualified", 32nd overall) ("Slovenian Record"):*Round 2 — did not start

Men's 3000 metre Steeplechase:
* Boštjan Buč:* Round 1 — 8:37.29 (10th in heat 1, did not advance, 31st overall)

Men's High Jump:
* Rožle Prezelj :*Qualification — 2.20 m (T-11th in Group B, did not advance, T-20th overall)

Men's Pole Vault:
* Jure Rovan :*Qualification — 5.50 m (13th in Group A, did not advance, 25th overall)

Men's Long Jump:
* Gregor Cankar :*Qualification — 7.32 m (20th in Group A, did not advance, 39th overall)

Men's Triple Jump:
* Boštjan Simunič :*Qualification — 16.07 m (20th in Group B, did not advance, 37th overall)

Men's Shot Put:
* Miroslav Vodovnik :*Qualification — 20.04 m (6th in Group B, "Qualified", 12th overall):*Final A — 19.34 m (11th overall, did not advance)

Men's Discus Throw:
* Igor Primc :*Qualification — 56.33 m (17th in Group B, did not advance, 30th overall)

Men's Hammer Throw:
* Primož Kozmus:*Qualification — 78.81 m (4th in Group B, "Qualified", 4th overall) ("Season Best"):*Final A — 77.08 m (7th overall, "Qualified"):*Final B: 78.56 m (6th overall)

Men's Javelin Throw:
* Peter Zupanc:*Qualification — 77.34 m (11th in Group A, did not advance, 22nd overall)

Women's 100 metres:
* Merlene Ottey:*Round 1 — 11.14 s (2nd in heat 2, "Qualified", T-2nd overall):*Round 2 — 11.24 s (3rd in heat 3, "Qualified", 11th overall):*Semifinal — 11.21 s (5th in semifinal 2, did not advance, T-10th overall)

Women's 200 metres:
* Merlene Ottey:*Round 1 — 22.72 s (3rd in heat 7, "Qualified", 8th overall) ("Slovenian Record"):*Round 2 — 23.07 s (4th in heat 4, "Qualified", 14th overall):* Semifinal — Did not finish

Ottey injured her hamstring in the first 20 metres of the semifinal, ending her Games [cite news |title=Ottey out for rest of season |url=http://www.iaaf.org/history/OLY/season=2004/eventCode=3201/news/kind=100/newsid=27152.html |work=IAAF |date=Aug. 25, 2004 |accessdate=2008-06-30 ] .

* Alenka Bikar :*Round 1 — 23.09 s (2nd in heat 1, "Qualified", 23rd overall):*Round 2 — 23.38 s (7th in heat 2, did not advance, 27th overall)

Women's 800 metres:
* Jolanda Čeplak :* Round 1 — 2:00.61 (1st in heat 1, "Qualified", 5th overall):* Semifinal — 1:58.80 (2nd in round 2, "Qualified", 5th overall):* Final: 1:56.43 (Bronze Medal) ("Season Best")

Women's 10000 metres:
* Helena Javornik :* 31:06.63 (10th overall) ("Slovenian Record")

Women's Pole Vault:
* Teja Melink:*Qualification — 4.15 m (T-12th in Group A, did not advance, T-24th overall)

Women's Long Jump:
* Tina Čarman:* Qualification:5.72 m (19th in Group A, did not advance, 36th overall)

=Canoeing=

Flatwater

Men's K1 1000 metres:
* Jernej Zupancic Regent:*Heat — 3:32.552 (7th in heat 1, advanced to semifinal):*Semifinal — 3:35.050 (6th in semifinal 1, did not advance, 15th overall)

lalom

Both men's boats made the final, but both entered far enough behind the leaders that they did not seriously challenge the leaders. Mali finished last in the women's event, due to a 50-point penalty at gate six in her first run. Without that penalty, the only one assessed in the preliminary round, she would have easily qualified for the semifinal.

Men's C1:
* Simeon Hocevar:*Heat — 209.35 (Run 1 — 104.17, 9th, Run 2 — 105.18, 11th, 9th overall, "Qualified"):*Semifinal — 100.24 (8th overall, "Qualified"):*Final: 99.54 (Total — 199.78, 6th overall)

Men's K1:
* Uros Kodelja:*Heat — 200.23 (Run 1 — 102.24, 19th, Run 2 — 97.99, 13th, 17th overall, "Qualified"):*Semifinal — 96.68 (8th overall, "Qualified"):*Final: 104.93 (Total — 201.61, 10th overall)

Women's K1:
* Nada Mali:*Heat — 278.48 (Run 1 — 165.65, 19th, Run 2 — 110.83, 10th, 19th overall did not advance)

=Cycling=

Road cycling

Hauptman and Valjavec both finished in the leading group, and while Hauptman placed 5th, the three leaders had broken away from the main pack, so he was not particularly close to a medal.

Men's Road Race:

* Andrej Hauptman:*5:41:56 (5th overall, 0:12 behind)
* Uroš Murn:*5:44:13 (50th overall, 2:29 behind)
* Gorazd Stangelj:*5:43:20 (43rd overall, 1:36 behind)
* Tadej Valjavec:*5:41:56 (26th overall, 0:12 behind)

Men's Time Trial:
* Gorazd Stangelj:*1:03:45.84 (35th overall, 6:14.10 behind)

=Handball=

The Slovenian handball team finished 8th in Sydney, but did not have that level of success in Athens. They lost their first 4 matches, and even beating the Koreans in their last match was not enough to get them into the quarterfinals. They did handily beat Egypt to avoid finishing in last place. The team's leading scorer was Siarhei Rutenka, who scored 29 goals and added 12 assists.

Men's Competition:

* Team Roster:*Goalkeepers:** Dusan Podpecan :**Beno Lapajne "Captain":*Left Backs:**Miladin Kozlina:**Siarhei Rutenka:**Ales Pajovic:*Centre Back:**Uros Zorman:*Right Backs:**Renato Vugrinec:**Jure Natek:*Left Wings:**Zoran Jovicic:**Andrej Kastelic:**Vid Kavticnik:*Right Wings:**Matjaz Brumen:**Luka Zvizej:*Pivots:**Marko Ostir:**Tomaz Tomsic

* Group A:* Lost to Russia (25 - 28):* Lost to Croatia (26 - 27):* Lost to Iceland (25 - 30) :* Lost to Spain (28 - 41):* Defeated South Korea (26 - 23)
*6th in group, did not advance (2 points, 130 GF, 149 GA
*11th-12th Placement Game — Defeated Egypt (30 - 24) (11th overall)

=Judo=

The five Slovenian judokas put up a record of 5-5 in Athens, with three of the wins coming from Half-Middleweight Urska Zolnir, who had three of her matches decided on penalty points, including a disqualification in her semifinal match. She then took advantage of three penalties from her opponent in the bronze medal match to win the medal.

Men's Lightweight (– 73 kg):
* Saso Jereb:*Round of 32 — Bye:*Round of 16 — Lost to Nouredinne Yagoubi of Algeria (Kuchiki-taoshi; ippon - 3:07)

Women's Half-Lightweight (– 52 kg):
* Petra Nareks:*Round of 32 — Lost to Salima Souakri of Algeria (penalty points; 2 shidos)

Women's Half-Middleweight (– 63 kg):
*Urska Zolnir :*Round of 32 — Bye:*Round of 16 — Defeated Driulys Gonzalez of Cuba (penalty points; 2 shidos):*Quarterfinal — Defeated Gelle Vandecaveye of Belgium (Sukui-nage; ippon - 2:18):*Semifinal — Lost to Claudia Heill of Austria (Hansoku-make; 4 shidos):*Bronze Medal Match: Defeated Marie Helene Chisolm of Canada (penalty points; 3 shidos) (Bronze Medal)

Women's Middleweight (– 70 kg):
* Raša Sraka:*Round of 32 — Bye:*Round of 16 — Lost to Masae Ueno of Japan (Ouchi-gari; waza-ari) (advances to first repechage round):*Repechage Round 1 — Defeated Celita Schutz of the United States (penalty points; 2 shidos):*Repechage Round 2 — Lost to Catherine Jacques of Belgium (Uki-waza; w'ari ippon - 2:54)

Women's Heavyweight (+78 kg):
* Lucija Polavder:*Round of 32 — Lost to Sandra Köppen of Germany (Yoko-shiho-gatame; ippon - 1:18)

=Rowing=

The defending Olympic champions in the men's double sculls, Luka Spik and Iztok Cop were one of the main favourites in the event, and easily got through to the final, winning their heat and their semifinal. They trailed a French boat, the defending world champions, for the entire final, but surged past an Italian boat in the last 500 metres to claim a silver medal.

Men's Single Sculls:
* Davor Mizerit:*Heat — 7:24.60 (3rd in heat 2, advanced to repechage):*Repechage — 7:01.31 (1st in repechage 4, advanced to semifinal A/B/C):*Semifinal A/B/C — 7:04.07 (3rd in semifinal A/B/C 1, advanced to final B):*Final B — 6:55.64 (3rd in final B, 9th overall)

Men's Pairs:
* Matija Pavsic and Andrej Hrabar:*Heat — 7:05.36 (5th in heat 1, advanced to repechage):*Repechage — 6:30.89 (3rd in repechage, advanced to semifinal A/B):*Semifinal A/B — 6:46.12 (5th in semifinal A/B 2, advanced to final B):*Final B — 6:27.11 (3rd in final B, 9th overall)

Men's Double Sculls:
* Luka Spik and Iztok Cop:*Heat — 6:45.26 (1st in heat 3, "Qualified"):*Semifinal A/B — 6:11.96 (1st in semifinal A/B 2, advanced to final A):*Final A: 6:31.72 "(Silver Medal)"

Men's Fours:
* Tomaz Pirih, Janez Klemencic, Grega Sracnjek and Miha Pirih:*Heat — 6:25.36 (3rd in heat 2, "Qualified"):*Semifinal A/B — 5:55.53 (4th in semifinal A/B 2, advanced to final B):*Final B — 5:50.59 (3rd in final B, 9th overall)

=Sailing=

Zbogar overcame a disastrous start in the Laser, winning the 6th and 8th races to put himself in medal contention, and then hodling on through an up-and-down series of results in the last three races to claim bronze by three points. In the women's 470, the Slovenian crew was in 2nd place after eight races, but an 18th place finish race nine dropped them to 5th and even two top-three finishes in the last two races left them two points short of a medal.

Men's Finn:
*Gasper Vincec:*151 points (20th overall)

Men's 470:
*Tomaz Copi and Davor Glavina:*126 points (14th overall)

Women's 470:
*Vesna Dekleva and Klara Maucec:*126 points (14th overall)

Open Laser:
*Vasilij Zbogar:*76 points (Bronze Medal)

=Shooting=

Debevec came extraordinarily close to winning a medal in the three positions rifle event, sinking from 2nd to 4th with his final shot, which scored a very low 8.4. He fell short of bronze by just 0.3 points, and silver by just 0.7 shots. Both the silver and bronze medalists scored over 10.3 points on their final shots to pass him.

Men's 50 metre Rifle 3 Positions:
*Rajmond Debevec:*Qualification — 1166 points (397 Prone, 384 Standing, 385 Kneeling, T-4th overall, "Qualified"):*Final: 96.6 points (Total — 1262.6 points, 4th overall)

Men's 50 metre Rifle Prone:
*Rajmond Debevec:*Qualification — 594 points (T-9th overall, did not advance)

Men's 10 metre Air Rifle:
*Rajmond Debevec:*Qualification — 589 points (T-29th overall, did not advance)

=Swimming=

The 11-person Slovenian swimming team participated in 23 events in Athens, but only one swimmer, Blaz Medvesek, managed to make a final, the 200 metre Backstroke, where he finished last. Peter Mankoc, who was a multiple medal winner at short course championships, was the only other swimmer to even make a semifinal, which he did in the men's 100 metre Freestyle.

Men's 50 metre Freestyle:
*Peter Mankoč:*Did not start

Men's 100 metre Freestyle:
*Peter Mankoc:*Heat — 49.54 s (10th overall, "Qualified"):*Semifinal — 49.71 s (13th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Freestyle:
*Peter Mankoc:*Heat — 1:50.72 (22nd overall, did not advance)

Men's 400 metre Freestyle:
*Bojan Zdesar:*Heat — 3:59.38 (31st overall, did not advance)

Men's 1500 metre Freestyle:
*Bojan Zdesar:*Heat — 15:31.57 (20th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Backstroke:
*Blaz Medvesek:*Heat — 2:01.13 (15th overall, "Qualified"):*Semifinal — 1:59.37 (7th overall, "Qualified"):*"Final:" 2:00.06 (8th overall)

Men's 100 metre Breaststroke:
*Emil Tahirovič:*Heat — 1:02.12 s (17th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Breaststroke:
*Emil Tahirovic:*Heat — 2:18.65 s (36th overall, did not advance)

Men's 100 metre Butterfly:
*Peter Mankoč:*Heat — 54.14 s (29th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Individual Medley:
*Peter Mankoc:*Heat — Did not start

Men's 400 metre Individual Medley:
*Marko Milenkovic:*Heat — 4:30.99 (31st overall, did not advance)

Men's 4 x 100 metre Medley Relay:
*Blaz Medvesek, Emil Tahirovic, Peter Mankoc and Jernej Godec:*Heat — 3:44.17 (14th overall, did not advance)

Women's 50 metre Freestyle:
*Sara Isakovič:*Heat — 26.81 (36th overall, did not advance)

Women's 100 metre Freestyle:
*Sara Isakovič:*Heat — 56.67 s (T-26th overall, did not advance)

Women's 200 metre Freestyle:
*Sara Isakovič:*Heat — 2:01.71 (18th overall, did not advance)

Women's 400 metre Freestyle:
*Anja Carman:*Heat — 4:17.79 (24th overall, did not advance)

Women's 800 metre Freestyle:
*Anja Čarman:*Heat — Did not start

Women's 200 metre Backstroke:
*Anja Čarman:*Heat — 2:17.62 (23rd overall, did not advance)

*Alenka Kejžar:*Heat — Did not start

Women's 200 metre Breaststroke:
*Alenka Kejzar:*Heat — 2:32.64 (18th overall, did not advance)

Women's 200 metre Butterfly:
*Anja Klinar:*Heat — 2:18.15 (28th overall, did not advance)

Women's 200 metre Individual Medley:
*Alenka Kejzar:*Heat — 2:18.60 (18th overall, did not advance)

Women's 400 metre Individual Medley:
*Anja Klinar:*Heat — 4:46.66 (13th overall, did not advance)

Women's 4 x 200 metre Freestyle Relay:
*Sara Isakovič, Anja Klinar, Anja Carman and Lavra Babic:*Heat — 8:16.89 (16th overall, did not advance)

=Tennis=

The four women represetnting Slovenia in Tennis put up a combined 2-5 record. The top ranked player coming in was #45 Tina Pisnik, who lost her first round match to wild card Cara Black. Maja Matevzic managed to win her first match, but was then unable to win a single game against #6 Venus Williams in the second round. Katarina Srebotnik also won her first match of the Games, but lost in straight sets in the second round.

Women's Singles
*Maja Matevzic:*First Round — Defeated Saori Obata of Japan (7 - 6 (3), 7 - 5):*Second Round — Lost to (6) Venus Williams of the United States (0 - 6, 0 - 6)

*Katarina Srebotnik:*First Round — Defeated Maria Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain (6 - 3, 0 - 6, 6 - 4):*Second Round — Lost to Alicia Molik of Australia (5 - 7, 4 - 6)

*Tina Pisnik:*First Round — Lost to Cara Black of Zimbabwe (3 - 6, 7 - 5, 4 - 6)

Women's Doubles
*Tina Krizan and Katarina Srebotnik:*First Round — Lost to Nathalie Dechy and Sandrine Testud of France (5 - 7, 3 - 6)

*Maja Matevzic and Tina Pisnik:*First Round — Defeated Yan Zi and Zheng Jie of China (1 - 6, 2 - 6)

Officials

*President — Janez Kocijancic
*Secretary General — Tone Jagodic

ee also

* Slovenia at the 2005 Mediterranean Games

References

* [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/2004/Results/ Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad]

*cite book
last = Wallechinsky
first = David
authorlink = David Wallechinsky
coauthors = Jamie Loucky
title = The Complete Book of the Olympics — 2008 Edition
publisher = Aurum Press
year = 2008
location = London
pages =
isbn = 978-1845133306