Žarko Dolinar

Žarko Dolinar (3 July 1920 – 9 March 2003), Ph.D., was a biologist and table tennis player who won eight medals at the World Table Tennis Championships.[1]

Žarko Dolinar
Žarko Dolinar at the 1955 World Championships
Personal information
Nationality Yugoslavia
Born3 July 1920
Koprivnica, Yugoslavia
Died9 March 2003 (aged 82)
Basel, Switzerland

He was born in a family of Slovene economic immigrants to Croatia.[2] In 1939, at the age of 18 he became the national champion of Yugoslavia.[3] Dolinar was champion of the Independent State of Croatia multiple times, and also competed for its national team on nine occasions.[4]

He also won three English Open titles.

Dolinar is the only world sporting champion with a Ph.D. degree.[5] He graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1949, and received a doctorate in 1959.[6] He was world doubles champion with his partner, Vilim Harangozo. Dolinar was also head of the Sports Science Committee for the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

A university professor in both Zagreb and Basel, Dolinar and his brother Boris were honored as the Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jews during World War II. On a number of occasions, the Dolinar brothers provided Jews with forged identity documents and travel permits, used their connections to have them released from imprisonment, and helped them travel to safety.[7]

In 2016, Dolinar was inducted into the European Table Tennis Hall of Fame.[5]

See also

References
  1. "DOLINAR Zarko (YUG) " Archived 16 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. ITTF Database
  2. Vera Krzisnik Bukic (2006). "Znameniti Slovenci na Hrvaškem skozi zgodovino". CEEOL Migration and Ethnic Themes. 22 (4): 421–445.
  3. Povijest hrvatskog stolnog tenisa (History of Croatian Table Tennis). hsts.hr
  4. "ŽARKO DOLINAR. 1920 – 2003" (PDF). društvene obavijesti. 93/94: 11. 2003.
  5. "Zarko Dolinar". European Table Tennis Hall of Fame. European Table Tennis Union. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  6. "U 83. godini umro Žarko Dolinar, slavni stolnotenisač i znanstvenik". index.hr
  7. "Boris and Žarko Dolinar". yadvashem.org. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
Awards
Preceded by
Perica Vlašić		 Yugoslav Sportsman of the Year
1954		 Succeeded by
Bernard Vukas
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