Slovenia at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Slovenia competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] This was the nation's eighth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics as an independent nation. Slovenian athletes won five medals, including three gold, won by canoeist Benjamin Savšek, road racing cyclist Primož Roglič, and sport climber Janja Garnbret. Three gold medals is an all-time record for Slovenia at the Summer Olympics, having previously won two gold in 2000. The Olympics saw the debut of the men's basketball team who finished fourth in the tournament.

Slovenia at the 2020 Summer Olympics
IOC code	SLO
NOC	Olympic Committee of Slovenia
Website	www.olympic.si (in Slovene and English)
in Tokyo, Japan 23 July 2021 (2021-07-23) – 8 August 2021 (2021-08-08)
Competitors	53[1] in 14 sports
Flag bearers (opening)	Eva Terčelj and Bojan Tokić
Flag bearer (closing)	Janja Garnbret
Medals Ranked 31st	Gold 3 Silver 1 Bronze 1 Total 5
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Other related appearances
Austria (1912)  Yugoslavia (1920–1988)

Medalists

Further information: 2020 Summer Olympics medal table and List of 2020 Summer Olympics medal winners

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Benjamin Savšek	Canoeing	Men's slalom C-1	26 July
Gold	Primož Roglič	Cycling	Men's road time trial	28 July
Gold	Janja Garnbret	Sport climbing	Women's combined	6 August
Silver	Tina Trstenjak	Judo	Women's 63 kg	27 July
Bronze	Tadej Pogačar	Cycling	Men's road race	24 July

Summary

In June 2021, the Olympic Committee of Slovenia officially confirmed 41 competitors who would represent the country at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.^[3] On 4 July 2021, the national men's basketball team won the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in Kaunas, secured a spot at the Olympic tournament, and bringing the total number of athletes to 53.^[4] Eva Terčelj, a canoeist, and Bojan Tokić, a table tennis player, were chosen as the flag bearers at the opening ceremony. This was the first time in Olympic history that there were two flag bearers, a man and a woman.^[5] Slovenia sent competitors in 14 sports. Apart from the men's basketball team, the sports with five or more competitors were athletics, cycling, canoeing, and judo. Miroslav Cerar, a gymnast who won gold at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, was chosen as the leader of the Slovenian Olympic Team.^[3]

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Slovenian athletes won four medals, including one gold. Vasilij Žbogar, a sailor, has since retired from competing. Judokas Tina Trstenjak and Anamari Velenšek returned to the Olympic tournament, as did the canoeist Peter Kauzer. Other potential candidates included cyclists Tadej Pogačar, the incumbent Tour de France winner, and Primož Roglič, the sport climbing champion Janja Garnbret, canoeists Terčelj and Benjamin Savšek, and the discus thrower Kristjan Čeh. The basketball team, the reigning European champions led by the NBA star Luka Dončić, was seen as a team that could reach high.^[6][7]

The first medal event for Slovenia took place on 24 July, the men's road race in cycling. Following an early breakaway, Jan Tratnik led the chase for a long time. In the finish kilometres, Richard Carapaz and Brandon McNulty broke away from the peloton that has by then thinned out. Carapaz won the race while the chase group set themselves up for the sprint for the silver and bronze medals, resulting in an 8-way race for the finish in the final metres of the race. Pogačar won bronze, slightly behind Wout van Aert. Roglič finished 28th with over 6 minutes behind, having still not completely recovered from his fall at Tour de France.^[8][9][10]

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.^[11]

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Archery	1	0	1
Athletics	2	5	7
Basketball	12	0	12
Canoeing	2	4	6
Cycling	4	2	6
Golf	0	1	1
Gymnastics	0	1	1
Judo	1	4	5
Sailing	1	2	3
Shooting	0	1	1
Sport climbing	0	2	2
Swimming	1	3	4
Table tennis	3	0	3
Taekwondo	1	0	1
Total	28	25	53

Archery

Main articles: Archery at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Archery at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

One Slovenian archer booked a place in the men's individual recurve by finishing in the top four at the Europe Continental Qualification Tournament in Antalya, Turkey.^[12]

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Žiga Ravnikar	Men's individual	651	41	Nespoli (ITA) L 0–6	Did not advance

Athletics

Main articles: Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenian athletes further achieved the entry standards, either by qualifying time or by world ranking, in the following track and field events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event):^[13][14]

Key

• Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
• Q = Qualified for the next round
• q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
• NR = National record
• N/A = Round not applicable for the event
• Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Luka Janežič	Men's 400 m	45.44	5 q	—		45.36	7	Did not advance
Maja Mihalinec	Women's 100 m	Bye		11.54	5	Did not advance
	Women's 200 m	23.62	4	—		Did not advance
Anita Horvat	Women's 400 m	52.34	6	—		Did not advance
Klara Lukan	Women's 5000 m	DNF		—				Did not advance
Maruša Mišmaš	Women's 3000 m steeplechase	9:23.36	2 Q	—				9:14.84	6

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Kristjan Čeh	Men's discus throw	65.45	3 q	66.62	5
Tina Šutej	Women's pole vault	4.55	=1 q	4.50	=5

Basketball

Main article: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Indoor

Summary

Team	Event	Group stage				Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Slovenia men's	Men's tournament	Argentina W 118–100	Japan W 116–81	Spain W 95–87	1 Q	Germany W 94–70	France L 89–90	Australia L 93–107	4

Men's tournament

Main article: 2020 Slovenia men's Olympic basketball team

Slovenia men's basketball team qualified for the Olympics by securing its lone outright berth and winning the final match over the host Lithuania at the Kaunas leg of the 2020 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, marking the nation's debut in the sport since the breakup of the SFR Yugoslavia.^[15]

Team roster

The roster was announced on 17 July 2021.^[16]

Slovenia national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 5 Luka Rupnik 28 – (1993-05-20)20 May 1993 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Cedevita Olimpija PG 6 Aleksej Nikolić 26 – (1995-02-21)21 February 1995 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque SG 7 Klemen Prepelič 28 – (1992-10-20)20 October 1992 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) Valencia SF 8 Edo Murić (C) 29 – (1991-11-27)27 November 1991 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) Cedevita Olimpija C 10 Mike Tobey 26 – (1994-10-10)10 October 1994 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Valencia SG 11 Jaka Blažič 31 – (1990-06-30)30 June 1990 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Cedevita Olimpija SF 15 Gregor Hrovat 26 – (1994-08-18)18 August 1994 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Cholet Basket C 27 Žiga Dimec 28 – (1993-02-20)20 February 1993 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Cedevita Olimpija SF 30 Zoran Dragić 32 – (1989-06-22)22 June 1989 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Baskonia SF 31 Vlatko Čančar 24 – (1997-04-10)10 April 1997 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Denver Nuggets SF 55 Jakob Čebašek 30 – (1991-04-28)28 April 1991 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Dinamo București SF 77 Luka Dončić 22 – (1999-02-28)28 February 1999 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Dallas Mavericks	Head coach Aleksander Sekulić[17] Assistant coach(es) Dalibor Damjanović Dragiša Drobnjak Jernej Valentinčič Legend (C) Team captain Age – describes age on 25 July 2021

Group play

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovenia	3	3	0	329	268	+61	6	Quarterfinals
2	Spain	3	2	1	256	243	+13	5
3	Argentina	3	1	2	268	276	−8	4
4	Japan (H)	3	0	3	235	301	−66	3

Source: TOCOG and FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) classification points; 2) head-to-head results; 3) head-to-head game points difference; 4) head-to-head number of game points scored.
(H) Hosts

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 13:40 v

Boxscore

Argentina	100–118	Slovenia
Scoring by quarter: 24–32, 18–30, 24–26, 34–30
Pts: Scola 23 Rebs: Deck 8 Asts: Vildoza 5		Pts: Dončić 48 Rebs: Tobey 14 Asts: Dončić 5

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Referees: Steven Anderson (USA), Yohan Rosso (FRA), Yu Jung (TPE)

---

29 July 2021 (2021-07-29) 13:40 v

Boxscore

Slovenia	116–81	Japan
Scoring by quarter: 29–23, 24–18, 27–23, 36–17
Pts: Dončić 25 Rebs: Tobey 11 Asts: Dončić 7		Pts: Hachimura 34 Rebs: Hachimura, Watanabe 7 Asts: Hachimura, Tanaka 3

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Referees: Aleksandar Glišić (SRB), Michael Weiland (CAN), Ferdinand Pascual (PHI)

---

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 17:20 v

Boxscore

Spain	87–95	Slovenia
Scoring by quarter: 24–20, 20–21, 26–27, 17–27
Pts: Rubio 18 Rebs: Claver, M. Gasol 6 Asts: Rubio 9		Pts: Čančar 22 Rebs: Dončić, Tobey 14 Asts: Dončić 9

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Referees: Ademir Zurapović (BIH), Yohan Rosso (FRA), Matthew Kallio (CAN)

Quarterfinal

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 10:00 v

Boxscore

Slovenia	94–70	Germany
Scoring by quarter: 25–14, 19–23, 22–17, 28–16
Pts: Dragić 27 Rebs: Tobey 11 Asts: Dončić 11		Pts: Lô 11 Rebs: Bonga 7 Asts: Bonga 3

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Referees: Ademir Zurapović (BIH), Matthew Kallio (CAN), Omar Bermúdez (MEX)

Semifinal

5 August 2021 (2021-08-05) 20:00 v

Boxscore

France	90–89	Slovenia
Scoring by quarter: 27–29, 15–15, 29–21, 19–24
Pts: De Colo 25 Rebs: Gobert 16 Asts: De Colo 5		Pts: Tobey 23 Rebs: Dončić 10 Asts: Dončić 18

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Juan Fernández (ARG), Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT)

Bronze medal game

7 August 2021 (2021-08-07) 20:00 v

Boxscore

Slovenia	93–107	Australia
Scoring by quarter: 19–20, 26–33, 22–25, 26–29
Pts: Dončić 22 Rebs: Dončić 8 Asts: Dončić 7		Pts: Mills 42 Rebs: Ingles 9 Asts: Mills 9

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Referees: Roberto Vázquez (PUR), Yohan Rosso (FRA), Matthew Kallio (CAN)

Canoeing

Main articles: Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slalom

Slovenian canoeists qualified one boat for each of the following classes through the 2019 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain.^[18]

Athlete	Event	Preliminary						Semifinal		Final
		Run 1	Rank	Run 2	Rank	Best	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Benjamin Savšek	Men's C-1	98.82	1	105.87	12	98.82	2 Q	104.26	5 Q	98.25
Peter Kauzer	Men's K-1	93.04	4	105.64	23	93.04	11 Q	99.10	12	Did not advance
Alja Kozorog	Women's C-1	124.08	15	113.07	7	113.07	8 Q	129.72	12	Did not advance
Eva Terčelj	Women's K-1	115.93	15	109.11	9	109.11	11 Q	112.48	24	Did not advance

Sprint

Slovenia qualified a single boat in the women's K-2 200 m for the Games by finishing fourth overall and second among those nations eligible for Olympic qualification at the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary.^[19]

Athlete	Event	Heats		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Anja Osterman Špela Ponomarenko Janić	Women's K-2 500 m	1:48.509	4 QF	1:46.929	1 SF	DNF		Did not advance

Qualification Legend: FA = Qualify to final (medal); FB = Qualify to final B (non-medal)

Cycling

Main articles: Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Road

Slovenia entered a squad of five riders (four men and one woman) to compete in their respective Olympic road races, by virtue of their top 50 national finish (for men) and top 22 (for women) in the UCI World Ranking.^[20]

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Tadej Pogačar	Men's road race	6:06.33
Jan Polanc		6:15:38	43
Primož Roglič	Men's road race	6:11.46	28
	Men's time trial	55:04:19
Jan Tratnik	Men's road race	6:21:46	67
Eugenia Bujak	Women's road race	3:55:13	19

Mountain biking

Slovenia entered one mountain biker to compete in the women's cross-country race by finishing in the top two of the elite division vying for qualification at the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Tanja Žakelj	Women's cross-country	1:24:38	21

Golf

Main articles: Golf at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Golf at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenia entered one golfer into the Olympic tournament. Pia Babnik (world no. 301) qualified directly among the top 60 eligible players for the women's event based on the IGF World Rankings.^[21]

Athlete	Event	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total
		Score	Score	Score	Score	Score	Par	Rank
Pia Babnik	Women's	71	71	73	67	282	−2	=34

Gymnastics

Main articles: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Rhythmic

Slovenia entered one rhythmic gymnast into the Olympic competition for the first time, by receiving a spare berth freed up by host nation Japan, as the next highest-ranked athlete, not yet qualified, in the individual all-around at the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.^[22][23]

Athlete	Event	Qualification						Final
		Hoop	Ball	Clubs	Ribbon	Total	Rank	Hoop	Ball	Clubs	Ribbon	Total	Rank
Ekaterina Vedeneeva	Individual	22.800	23.550	22.550	20.800	89.700	16	Did not advance

Judo

Main articles: Judo at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Judo at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenia qualified five judoka (one man and four women) for each of the following weight classes at the Games. All of them, highlighted by Rio 2016 Olympians Adrian Gomboc (men's half-lightweight, 66 kg) and defending champion Tina Trstenjak (women's half-middleweight, 63 kg), were selected among the top 18 judoka of their respective weight classes based on the IJF World Ranking List of June 28, 2021.^[24]

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Adrian Gomboc	Men's −66 kg	Mungandu (ZAM) W 10–00	Zantaraia (UKR) W 01–00	An B-u (KOR) L 00–10	Did not advance	Shmailov (ISR) L 00–01	Did not advance	7
Maruša Štangar	Women's −48 kg	Kang Y-j (KOR) W 10–01	Pareto (ARG) L 00–10	Did not advance
Kaja Kajzer	Women's −57 kg	Dorjsuren (MGL) W 01–00	Lien C-l (TPE) W 10–00	Gjakova (KOS) L 00–11	Bye	Nelson-Levy (ISR) W 10–00	Klimkait (CAN) L 00–01	5
Tina Trstenjak	Women's −63 kg	Han H-j (KOR) W 01–00	Cabaña (ESP) W 10–00	Barrios (VEN) W 10–01	Centracchio (ITA) W 10–00	Bye	Agbegnenou (FRA) L 00–01
Anamari Velenšek	Women's +78 kg	Cutro-Kelly (USA) W 11–00	Altheman (BRA) L 00–10	Did not advance

Sailing

Main articles: Sailing at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Sailing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenian sailors qualified one boat in each of the following classes through the 2018 Sailing World Championships, the class-associated Worlds, and the continental regattas.^[25]

Athlete	Event	Race											Net points	Final rank
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	M*
Žan Luka Zelko	Men's Laser	8	23	29	17	31	36	20	26	5	19	EL	178	26
Veronika Macarol Tina Mrak	Women's 470	8	16	6	9	4	7	3	9	2	7	14	69	5

M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race

Shooting

Main articles: Shooting at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Shooting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenia granted an invitation from ISSF to send two-time Olympian Živa Dvoršak (women's 50 m rifle 3 positions) to the rescheduled Games as the highest-ranked shooter vying for qualification in the ISSF World Olympic Rankings of 6 June 2021.^[26][27]

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Živa Dvoršak	Women's 10 m air rifle	627.2	11	Did not advance
	Women's 50 m rifle 3 positions	1173	7 Q	406.2	7

Sport climbing

Main articles: Sport climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Sport climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenia entered two sport climbers into the Olympic tournament. Janja Garnbret qualified directly for the women's combined event, by winning the gold medal and securing one of the seven provisional berths at the 2019 IFSC World Championships in Hachioji, Japan.^[28][29] Meanwhile, Mia Krampl finished in the top six of those eligible for qualification at the IFSC World Qualifying Event in Toulouse, France, earning a quota place and joining with Gambret on the Slovenian roster.^[30]

Athlete	Event	Qualification									Final
		Speed		Boulder		Lead			Total	Rank	Speed		Boulder		Lead			Total	Rank
		Best	Place	Result	Place	Hold	Time	Place			Best	Place	Result	Place	Hold	Time	Place
Janja Garnbret	Women's	9.44	14	4T4z 4 4	1	30	—	4	56.00	4 Q	7.81	5	2T3z 5 3	1	37+	—	1	5
Mia Krampl		10.43	18	0T4z 0 5	14	26+	3:16	7	1764.00	18	Did not advance

Swimming

Main articles: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenian swimmers further achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and potentially 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)):^[31][32]

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Martin Bau	Men's 400 m freestyle	3:52.56	24	—		Did not advance
	Men's 800 m freestyle	8:04.79	32	—		Did not advance
Katja Fain	Women's 800 m freestyle	8:41.13	26	—		Did not advance
	Women's 1500 m freestyle	16:35.92	30	—		Did not advance
	Women's 400 m individual medley	4:44.66	15	—		Did not advance
Špela Perše	Women's 10 km open water	—				2:08:33.0	24
Janja Šegel	Women's 100 m freestyle	54.73	24	Did not advance
	Women's 200 m freestyle	1:58.38	17	Did not advance

Table tennis

Main articles: Table tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Table tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenia entered three athletes into the table tennis competition at the Games. For the first time in history, the men's team secured a berth by advancing to the quarterfinal round of the 2020 World Olympic Qualification Event in Gondomar, Portugal, permitting a maximum of two starters to compete in the men's singles tournament.^[33]

Athlete	Event	Preliminary	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Darko Jorgić	Men's singles	Bye		Robles (ESP) W 4–3	Pitchford (GBR) W 4–2	Harimoto (JPN) W 4–3	Lin Y-j (TPE) L 0–4	Did not advance
Bojan Tokić		Bye	Hazin (CAN) W 4–0	Pucar (CRO) W 4–0	Calderano (BRA) L 1–4	Did not advance
Darko Jorgić Deni Kozul Bojan Tokić	Men's team	—				South Korea (KOR) L 1–3	Did not advance

Taekwondo

Main articles: Taekwondo at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Taekwondo at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Slovenia entered one athlete into the taekwondo competition at the Games for the first time since London 2012. Ivan Trajkovič qualified directly for the men's heavyweight category (+80 kg) by finishing among the top five taekwondo practitioners at the end of the WT Olympic Rankings.

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Ivan Trajkovič	Men's +80 kg	Obame (GAB) W 26–5 PTG	Larin (ROC) L 3–16	Did not advance	Taufatofua (TGA) W 22–1 PTG	In K-d (KOR) L 4–5	5