Milan Neralić

It is not unusual at all that Milan Neralić (1875-1918), born in Slunj, was the first Croat who in 1900 won a bronze Olympic medal in fencing (sabre). It is even less unusual that he succeeded in this based on an innovation that today is a fundamental intervention in that sport, the so-called ‘flying caper’, a quick stab of the opponent from a high jump. That patent of Neralić led to the winning victory pedestal in the most elegant of sports. He was an interesting personality and a versatile athlete, a person who regularly tested his own limits. Being short of partners, he exercised in front of a mirror and the family legend has it that he used to go to the forest to wrestle with bears. He spent the majority of his life in Vienna and Berlin as a fencing instructor, as a top sports educator who raised several trophy Austrian and German fencing masters. He is the author of the book titled ‘An Introduction to Wrestling’.