Bosnian Olympic Medals from Korea

By: Nihad Krupić, Canada   

Sead Čaušević (39), born in Sarajevo, has been the coach of the Canadian Ski Cross national team since 2014. His Ski Cross team won two gold medals and one silver medal, as well as one fourth place at the Winter Olympics in Korea. Musaib Saibo Talić, a FIFA "A" license coach, owner of the prestigious football school "Europien Fottbal Scholl", originally from Sanski Most, also participated in the physical preparations of this team.

Sead Čaušević started skiing at the age of four, a year before the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. After that, he became a member of the ski club "Željezničar" in Sarajevo and, under the guidance of Bosnian skiing legend Ajdin Pašović, achieved good results and became a junior representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the winter of 1993, he moved with his family to Vancouver, Canada, and became a member of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club. He remained a representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina and represented BiH at the World Junior Championships in Schladming in 1997. After finishing his competitive career, he directed his love for skiing towards nurturing young athletes. In the period from 2006 to 2014, as the head coach of the Grouse Mountain Ski Club and Vancouver Ski Team, he achieved notable results, leading to his selection in 2014 to work at the level of "Alpine Canada" as the coach of the Canadian Ski Cross national team. His Ski Cross athletes have won medals at FIS world competitions. He often stays in Europe for months where the competition is the strongest.

The Ski Cross team won three medals at the Winter Olympics in Korea: two gold and one silver, as well as one 4th place.

Ski Cross has become a popular skiing discipline since the first Olympic race in Vancouver in 2010 due to its exciting "head-to-head" competition. Each round is full of action with jumps, turns, and overtaking tactics.

The competition begins with individual timed runs to qualify for the tournament, with 32 competitors in the men's and 16 in the women's events. Although currently classified as a FIS Freestyle discipline, 100 percent of World Cup competitors developed in alpine clubs. Ski Cross is trained through giant slalom and super-giant slalom, plus additional jumps, as well as the dynamics of group competition.

At these Olympic Games, Sejo Čaušević was constantly with his old friend from the Ski Club Željezničar, Rejmon Hor.

A small and scattered group of Bosnians around the world also have their medals. They are not for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but they are Bosnian.