NEWS
![](https://www.eurolympic.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/franjo-bucar.jpg)
CROATIA – NOC CELEBRATES FATHER OF CROATIAN SPORT
Zagreb, November 25, 2016
The recurrence of Franjo Bucar’s birthday is always celebrated at the Croatian Sports Museum in Zagreb, he being the promoter of the modern Olympic Movement in the country.
The event is organised by the Croatian Olympic Committee (COC) in cooperation with the Croatian Olympic Academy (HOA).
To mark 150th recurrence of birthday, exactly on 25th November 1866, the Croatian Sports Museum and the Croatian Society of Olympic Philately and Memorabilia have also organised a permanent exhibition of the rich archives, museum items and books that pertain to Bucar’s legacy.
Franjo Bucar (1866-1946) worked as a physical education teacher at Zagreb’s high schools. From 1892 to 1894 he was at the Central Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm. Upon his return to Zagreb he organized a course for gymnastics teachers, the first higher education school physical education teachers.
By establishing the Croatian Sports Association in 1909 and the Yugoslav Olympic Committee in 1919, he tried to have Croatian sport included in the international sports federations.
He was also president of the Croatian Sports Federation (1914/1919) and of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee (1919/1927).
And he was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1919 to 1946. He was responsible for the improvement of the working conditions of teachers of physical education, and building and decorating halls and playgrounds, and was also the founder of the Croatian Philatelic Society in Zagreb in 1896.