Reception for the Slovenian national team - the European Basketball Champions. Foto: BoBo
Reception for the Slovenian national team - the European Basketball Champions. Foto: BoBo

And with that achievement we drew a line below the year 2017 which brought a number of great sport achievements, accompanied by multitude of Slovenian flags and sport jerseys, fan accessories and torches, chanting of fans, whistles, applause, and the victorious Slovenian anthem Zdravljica.

On January 7 at Pohorje more than 15 thousand fans loudly greeted Tina Maze's last crossing of the finish line. The best Slovenian skier of all times appeared at the 53rd Golden Fox giant slalom with bib number 34. She waved to the fans and skied down the Pohorje slope. In the middle of the track she stopped and hugged her team led by Andrea Massi, and then skied to the finish line, took off her skies and greeted the gathered crowd of enthusiastic fans accompanied by loud applause. Foto: BoBo
The Slovenian national handball team managed an extraordinary turnover at the World Championship in France: in spite of being 8 goals behind in the match with Croatia which reminded of a science fiction movie they won with 31:30! The bronze heroes were first met at the Zagreb airport – slightly ironic – by a crowd of fans, and later a reception for the bronze national handball team was organized in Ljubljana, in front of the city hall, where they were greeted by 5000 enthusiastic and very loud fans! Foto: BoBo
The crown remained at home – it only moved 62 kilometres to the west on February 12! Ilka Štuhec proved she was justifiably considered the first favourite for gold, and replaced Tina Maze on the downhill throne. Foto: Reuters
The skiing enthusiasts then went to Gorenjska. The first March weekend in Kranjska Gora was characterised by fully booked tourist accommodations and poor weather for winter sports and amusement. The Podkoren slope hosted the already 56th Vitranc Cup where the best giant slalom and slalom skiers participated, and in two days the number of fans grew to more than ten thousand. Foto: www.alesfevzer.com
The last winter highpoint followed three weeks later – the traditional Planica holiday attracted 75,000 people to the valley below Ponce. di. Foto: BoBo
And in the beginning of May the action transferred to the capital of Styria. The Maribor team took the 14th title of national champions, the sixth in the last seven seasons. It became a fact four rounds before the end of the championship, and the cup was brought to the home fans on May 27. Foto: BoBo
The Slovenian fans in 2017 supported also Primož Roglič. He confirmed the good form already in February with the victory at the Algarva race, and in summer he won the mountain stage to Chevalier at the Tour de France, thus completing the Slovenian collection of stage victories at the three largest races. And then he went and won silver in time trial at the world championship! Foto: BoBo
In the autumn the attention was again directed to Maribor. On August 22 the violets again manage to qualify for the Champions' League, and on September 13 they played the first group part match, with strong support of home fans – Spartak came to Ljudski vrt Stadium. They completed their performance among the European elite with three draws, and three defeats. Foto: BoBo
And then came the moment in 2017 which will never be forgotten by the Slovenian fans. Slovenia won the gold medal at the European Championship, Slovenia is the basketball champion! On September 17 Serbia was defeated in Istanbul with 93:85, and thus Slovenia achieved the biggest success in its history of team sports! Foto: Reuters
The Slovenian supporters went on a pilgrimage: when it became obvious that Slovenia would fight for gold, the Slovenian fans showed their valour and masses started on their way to distant Turkey, using all the possible means of transport. Foto: BoBo
And then came the grand finale: on Monday evening a majestic reception was organized for the golden boys. In spite of bad weather more than 20,000 fans from all the parts of Slovenia greeted the heroes of the European Championship at the Congress square. Foto: BoBo