The President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, hosted last night at the Residence in Cetinje the athletes who over the past twenty years have represented Montenegro at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as at other major international competitions. The reception was organised in cooperation with the Montenegrin Olympic Committee, as part of the programme marking two decades since the restoration of Montenegrin independence.
In the informal atmosphere of the Residence courtyard, President Milatović spoke with the athletes about their experiences at the world’s biggest competitions, about what it meant to represent Montenegro on the grand stage, about the challenges athletes face between competitions, and about the future of Montenegrin sport. The central symbolic moment of the evening was the handover of the flag of Montenegro to young handball player Martina Knežević, as a pledge to the successes of future generations of athletes.
On that occasion, President Milatović said: “Every time one of you stepped onto the Olympic mat, onto the regatta course, into the pool or onto the track, the flag of Montenegro was there with you. And some of you carried it before the whole world. You carried the flag of a small country, but you gave it a place among the greatest.” During the conversation, President Milatović noted that over the past twenty years the athletes had become one of the finest symbols of independent Montenegro — a symbol of perseverance, unity and the belief that even a small country can stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest when it has behind it people who represent it honourably, bravely and with dignity.
The President of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee, Dušan Simonović, emphasised: “From the first competitions in 2006 to the present day, Montenegrin athletes have been building the sporting history of Montenegro. Tonight’s gathering is a reminder that behind every appearance there is a personal story of sacrifice, perseverance and pride, and that twenty years of Montenegrin sport can most honestly be told precisely like this, among the people who lived that story. The symbolic handover of the flag to Martina Knežević, as a representative of young athletes, sends the message that what these athletes have built over twenty years does not remain behind them, but carries on.”
The reception was attended by athletes whose careers span the entire period from the restoration of independence to the present day. Those who carried the flag before the whole world and those who defended it on the mat, in the pool, on the track and on the court. Medal winners, veterans with three Olympic cycles behind them, and young athletes at the start of their careers. Athletes from team and individual sports, from the summer and winter Games. All together, they make up the story of twenty years of Montenegrin sport on the world stage.
Veljko Uskoković, water polo player and captain of the Montenegro national team, carried the flag at the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, the first Games in which Montenegro competed as an independent state. He is a winner of the bronze Olympic medal from the Games in Sydney in 2000 and of four medals at European Championships, including gold with Montenegro in Málaga in 2008.
Sonja Barjaktarović, former goalkeeper of the women’s handball national team, was part of the team that won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 — the only Olympic medal Montenegro has won since the restoration of independence. In the final against Norway she made 16 saves and saved a penalty. That same year she also won the European Championship with the national team and the Champions League with Budućnost.
Bojan Kosić, an alpine skier from Nikšić, was the youngest Montenegrin Olympian ever when, at the age of 19, he carried the flag at the first Winter Olympic Games for Montenegro in Vancouver in 2010. He has competed at six World Championships in alpine skiing.
Srđan Mrvaljević, a judoka, world vice-champion from Paris in 2011 and a three-time Olympian, carried the flag in London in 2012. He won gold at the Mediterranean Games and the Games of the Small States of Europe, and crowned his career with gold at the World Veterans Championship in Paris in 2025, after which he founded the Ippon Judo Club in Nikšić.
Jelena Vujičić, an alpine skier, carried the flag of Montenegro at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in 2018 and Beijing in 2022, competing at two editions of the Winter Games.
Milivoj Dukić, a sailor in the ILCA 7 class, is a four-time Olympian with the longest continuity of participation at the Games in an individual sport in the history of Montenegrin sport. He carried the flag in Paris in 2024, where he achieved his best Olympic result. He was named the best athlete of Montenegro for 2024.
Branislav Peković, an alpine skier, carried the flag of Montenegro at the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in Milan in 2026, where in the slalom he achieved the best Montenegrin result in that discipline at the Winter Games ever.
Filip Radović, a para table tennis player, is a winner of two bronze medals at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 and Paris in 2024, the second-ranked player on the world list in the S10 category and a seven-time best Montenegrin Paralympian. His medal from Tokyo was the first Paralympic medal in the history of Montenegro.
Jovana Peković, a judoka from Nikšić, competed at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 and is a winner of the bronze medal at the World Cadet Championship.
Bojana Gojković, a boxer from Budva, is the first boxer from Montenegro to compete at the Olympic Games, in Paris in 2024. She has been named the best young female athlete of Montenegro six times in a row, and she holds two golds at junior and two at youth European Championships, as well as silver medals at the senior European Championship and the Mediterranean Games.
Andrea Berišaj, a taekwondo athlete, was named the best female athlete of Montenegro for 2025. Over the past year she has won four bronze medals at senior and under-21 European and World Championships, including a recent bronze at the European Championship in Munich.
Martina Knežević, a young handball player of Budućnost and the cadet national team of Montenegro, was named the best young female athlete of Montenegro for 2025. She won bronze at the European Cadet Championship in Podgorica, where she was named the best player of the tournament.
President Milatović was also symbolically presented with part of the kit of the Montenegrin Olympic team for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
The athletes agreed that this kind of gathering is rare and valuable, as it gives them the chance to share their experiences in a more intimate setting and to talk about the things athletes rarely have the opportunity to speak about: life between competitions, returning home, and what they would change for the generations to come.
Photo Gallery – https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCUPyp (photo © – Cabinet of the President of Montenegro)
