Janica Kostelic is a Croatian alpine skier. She is the most highly decorated female skier ever, with four gold Olympic medals and two silver Olympic medals. She has won the gold in five world championships of skiing.
Janica Kostelic was born in Zagreb, Croatia in the year 1982. Her birthday is the fifth of January. Janica Kostelic's father Ante Kostelic is a skier himself and acts as her trainer. Her brother Ivica is also a well known skier. Janica Kostelic and her brother Ivica started skiing when they were about ten years old, and their father took them around Europe to compete in races. When she started racing in the Junior Tour, she won every race she competed in (twenty two of them!).
She has won the overall World Cup for skiing three times in her life. The first time that she won a medal in a World Cup race, she had to use a Croatian flag that her father had with him because the race officials didn't have a Croatian flag on hand! Her won her first overall World Cup title in 2001 when she was barely nineteen years old. Her surprising win put Croatia on the map for Olympic Winter Sports, and Janica Kostelic's image was put on a Croatian postage stamp - the first time that had been done for a sports celebrity. Janica Kostelic's following victories were in 2003 and 2006, with a very closely contended battle with Anja Parson for the 2005 championship (3 points - closer than any previous gap between gold and silver).
As of early 2007 Janica Kostelic continues to ski professionally. Her most recent victory was her Olympic gold medal for Women's Alpine Combined that she received in Turin 2006. She has now won more Olympic gold than any other female skier in history.