Zoran Primorac (born 10 May 1969) is a retired Croatian

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player. He is a two-time winner of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and one of only three table tennis players to have competed at seven Olympic Games. His highest ITTF world ranking was number 2, in 1998.

Biography

Primorac was born in

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

and started playing table tennis at the club STK "Bagat" in his home town. As a junior, he won seven medals at European championships. In 1985 he moved to the

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

club "Vjesnik", Caja Granada and UMMC Verkhnaya Pyshma. At the 1987 World Championship in New Delhi he won the silver medal together with

Ilija Lupulesku Ilija Lupulesku ( sr-cyr, Илија Лупулеску; ; born October 30, 1967) is a former Yugoslavian and later American table tennis player who competed at the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He became a naturalized U.S. cit ...

, and repeated the success by winning the silver at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. Together with Lupulesku he also won the 1990 European Championship in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. Primorac competed for Croatia at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

in Barcelona where he reached last 16 in singles and doubles. He repeated the same at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

he was eliminated in the third round. At

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Primorac lost in the quarter-final of the men's singles event to Jörgen Persson. Primorac, Belgian Jean-Michel Saive, and Swede Jörgen Persson are the first table tennis players to have competed at seven Olympics, having competed in all Games since the sport was introduced in 1988. In 1993 he won a bronze medal in Men's singles at World Table Tennis Championships. He won silver medal in 1995 and bronze in 1999 at World Championships in Men's doubles event. At the 1998 and 2000 European Championships Primorac won silver medal in men's singles. In 1998 final he lost against Vladimir Samsonov and in 2000 he lost against Peter Karlsson. At the 1992, 1994, 2002 and 2005 European Championship he won the bronze medal in men's singles. At the 2007 European Championship in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

he won the silver medal in the team event with Croatia (with Roko Tošić, Andrej Gaćina and Tan Ruiwu). At the

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

in the men's singles event he won gold medal in 1987, silver in 1993 and 1997 and bronze in 1991. In the men's doubles event he won gold medals in 1987 and 1991, silver in 1993 and bronze in 1997. He currently uses specially designed equipment made by Butterfly Table Tennis. He uses the Timo Boll spirit blade, while using Tenergy 05 rubber on both sides of his racket. In the TV comedy ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'', the character Dwight Schrute names Zoran Primorac as one of his heroes, but pronounces his name incorrectly. In 2018, Primorac was elected Chair of the ITTF Athletes Commission.

Achievements

References

External links

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Zoran Primorac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Primorac, Zoran 1969 births Living people Croatian male table tennis players Olympic table tennis players for Yugoslavia Olympic table tennis players for Croatia Table tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Sportspeople from Zadar Olympic medalists in table tennis Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Croatia Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Croatia Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in table tennis European champions for Yugoslavia European champions for Croatia Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1987 Mediterranean Games 21st-century Croatian sportsmen

Biography

Achievements

See also

References

External links