24 years have passed since the death of BiH's greatest athlete Mirza Delibašić Kinđe

(Patria) - On this day in 2001, the heart of the best athlete of Bosnia and Herzegovina of all time, Mirza Delibašić, stopped beating.

Family and friends will gather today at 12 PM in the Alley of Greats at the city cemetery "Bare" to pay tribute and mark the 24th anniversary of the death of the great BH basketball player.

Kinđe was the club champion of Yugoslavia twice, Spain, Europe, and the world. With the Yugoslav national team, he was European champion twice, world champion, and Olympic winner. As such, he is the most decorated European basketball player of all time. He is a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame, and in 2008, he was named one of the 35 players most responsible for the development of basketball in Europe. In 1980, he was officially declared the best basketball player in Yugoslavia.

He was the best athlete of BiH four times, and in 2000, he was declared the athlete of the century of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He was the first coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team, with whom he won eighth place at the Eurobasket in Germany in 1993, which remains the best result for the BH men's national basketball team.

Three books have been written about the life of Mirza Delibašić so far: "Svjetla za daljine" by Slobodan Đurasović, "Posljednji romantik" by Juan Francisco Escudero, and "Razgovori s Mirzom" by Juan Antonio Corbalán.

Several documentaries have been made about his life and work, among which "Shooting for Mirza" stands out, on which his son Danko Delibašić worked as one of the authors and producers. This work was also declared the best documentary at the film festival in Gijón, Spain.

Mirza Delibašić, in addition to sports accolades, deserved many human ones as well. He received the Sixth of April Award of the City of Sarajevo, the Charter of the International League of Humanists, the order "Medal of Merit for the People" from Josip Broz Tito, as well as numerous lifetime achievement awards, both during his life and posthumously.