Osječanin Aurel Benović (23) became the čfourth Croatian gymnastč to win a performance at Olympic Games. The Croat secured a ticket to Paris in sensational circumstances. Benović before his performance at the World Cup in Doha, he had relatively little chance of qualifying for an Olympic visa through World Cup competitions, because his competitors had a significant points advantage.
However, he won the first Olympic Games in his life with the fourth place in the floor final and a series of other results.
– I am proud of how I did the exercise, I withstood the pressure and when it was most important, I managed to do my exercise solidly and win a trip to the Olympic Games, for that I am really very proud. I still can’t believe it, I have to sleep through it all for a while to become aware of what happened. I mustn’t get too carried away by the euphoria, I have to focus on tomorrow’s vault final and I hope that with a bit of sporting luck I can do both jumps well and be in the fight for a medal – said the Croatian after his career results.
And the young man from Osje went through a difficult life situation last year. He kept his own mother alive while waiting for emergency services after she fell ill in their family home.
– Unfortunately, from such difficult moments, a person always learns some new life lesson. Unfortunately, my life lesson was from a horror movie. Waking up in the morning at 7:30, I found my mother in not the best physical condition, but like every day, considering that it is sick for a long time, I thought that after drinking my medicine it would calm down again. But unfortunately it wasn’t like that this time… She just collapsed. I call Emergency, I cry, I revive my own mother. Her heart stopped. With a timely reaction and the quick arrival of the medical service, she came back again and I hope she will recover quickly – said Benovi at the time.
Benović won silver at the European Championships in 2020, and in Paris he will go down in the history of Croatian gymnastics. Before him, the Olympians were Alexey Demjanov (Atalanta 1996), Filip Ude (Beijing 2008, Beijing 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016).