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Jack-of-all-trades Janc shines in the "most difficult Olympics"

29 Jul. 2024

Jack-of-all-trades Janc shines in the "most difficult Olympics"

The first win for Slovenia in the men’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was, basically, a 180-degree turn of their first match against Spain. In the first opener, Slovenia limited “Los Hispanos” to eight goals in the first half, only to fail to keep the lead they built in the second part.

Against Croatia, they were down four goals in the first half, two in the second half, but the comeback was absolutely superb, with Slovenia being the dominating team in the last 20 minutes. And one of the reasons was 27-year-old right wing BlaĹľ Janc, who scored eight goals in the match.

Janc is basically the jack-of-all-trades for Slovenia, a perfect situation for a competition like the Olympic Games, where teams can only have 14 players on the scoresheet in each match. A right wing by trade, Janc is a player who can feature on the right back position and even as a centre back when he is needed to by coach Uros Zorman.

“I like this. This is also happening at my club, at Barcelona. I'm here in the national team and I just like to play handball and I think that when we start to enjoy smiling, we show that how good we are, how great we can be. We have this handball with a lot of crosses, a lot of running. I'm really happy and proud of my team and of course, without the team, I can't be the player like I am,” says Janc.

That versatility followed Janc since his early days, even before he made his debut in the senior national team, in 2016, when he was only 19 years old. In fact, one year earlier, Slovenia’s star was named the All-Star right back at the 2015 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, where Janc and Slovenia sealed the silver medal, after a 26:33 loss in the final against a France led by Dika Mem, Melvyn Richardson and Ludovic Fabregas.

"I need five centimetres more (to be a right back), but if I had that, perhaps I wouldn't be that fast, so I'm happy like this. As a right back you have the ball more and a lot more contact, you make more decisions. I'm enjoying it," smiled Janc, when asked about the position he enjoys the most playing.

Against Spain and Croatia, Janc played both as a right back and as a right wing, and has delivered good performances, combining for 10 goals from 13 shots in his first matches at Paris 2024, with a 77% shooting efficiency. He was especially good in the dying minutes of the match against Croatia, when he scored two goals in 18 seconds, using his fantastic speed on the fast breaks to all but decide the match.

“I think that our mentality is, you know, it's like a little bit different than in the other countries. So we really fight, we show this energy also on the court and try to do our best every time. At the Olympic Games, every match is like a final. This is my second Olympic games. I'm 27 years old, so I hope that is not the last one. And I really enjoy and even more if we play like this,” added Slovenia’s right wing.

For a country of only 2 million people, Slovenia are really producing immensely talented athletes. Cyclist Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France – the biggest stage competition in the world – for the third time last Sunday. Luka Dončić is one of the best basketball players in the world, featuring in the NBA final with his side, Dallas Mavericks. While the men’s volleyball team, who plays in the same Paris Expo complex at Paris 2024, just a few hundred meters away from the South Paris Arena 6, is one of the best in the world.

“I think that we have this heart and we always fight for our country. We are just two million people, but look, our mentality is a little bit different than in other countries. We show this energy also in the court. I cannot tell you the secret, because everyone will copy it,” jokes Janc.

But on the other hand, with their win against Croatia, Slovenia have a chance to feature in the quarter-finals of the men’s handball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“It's really important. This is the most difficult tournament in the history of the Olympic Games and every match is like a final, so for us this match was really important today. Croatia, we and Japan will fight for the ticket for the quarter-final, but if we play like today for a whole 60 minutes they (opponents) will have problems with us," concludes Janc.