With 759 goals and 151 matches played during her career for Slovenia, Ana Gros is undoubtedly the most experienced athlete in the team making its debut at the Olympic Games.

A star-studded career, which saw Gros become one of the best scorers in the history of the EHF Champions League Women, hitting the top-10 all-time in the European premium club competition, now brought the superstar right back to the Olympic Games for the first time in her career.

Before the opener against Denmark, which threw off the handball competition at this edition of the Olympics, Gros and her teammates were struck with awe, taking in every moment, every second, and celebrating their achievement in the South Paris Arena 6.

“It feels really amazing, honestly. All the emotions came in when we got here on the court. Honestly, I didn't expect that it would be so many people at 9 in the morning, even though it's the Olympic Games and it is a huge competition. But still, you can see that the whole crowd was cheering for this match, not for a team, but together and enjoying the sport,” says Gros.

Aged 33, Gros is closer to the end of her career rather than its start, so Paris 2024 was probably the last chance for her to take part in the competition. But when she first made her debut for Slovenia, back in 2007, the Olympics looked like a distant dream, something that the European side would see impossible to achieve.

They had only taken part in four editions of the IHF Women’s World Championship until then, finishing 18th in 1997, 9th in 2001, 8th in 2003 and 14th in 2005. Therefore, making it to the Olympic Games, where the best 12 teams in the world are playing, was a difficult proposition.

“Honestly, when I was younger, I couldn't even imagine that I would be at the Olympic Games one day. It was not even a thought of making this a reality in my head. It was mostly just dreams. Oh, it would be nice, maybe someday, but probably not. But honestly, in the last years we progressed a lot,” says Gros.

Everything started with co-hosting the EHF EURO 2022, where Slovenia finished eighth and somehow sneaked into the Olympic Qualification Tournaments. Back in April, the European side delivered a fantastic performance in Neu-Ulm, Germany, taking wins against Montenegro and Paraguay to punch their ticket to Paris 2024.

“We had this home European Championship, which made us really bonded even more as a team. We started to play much better together. And then also, our coach presented us this dream of achieving a qualification to Paris and we did it. So, it feels amazing to be here,” says Gros.

Of course, the Olympic motto says that participation is the most important. Yet every athlete taking part in the competition dreams about a medal, about winning. Therefore, the 19:27 loss against Denmark in the opener at Paris 2024, came as a hard reality check for Slovenia, which had to battle throughout the second half to cut the gap and avoid a double-digits loss.

“The big difference between us and Denmark is that they are, I would say, one of the top three teams in the world. So, of course, we didn't come here just to say, okay, we are playing at the Olympics and we don't care what happens. We have to forget it, prepare for the next match, against the Republic of Korea, because there are still four more games in the group and nothing is lost yet,” adds Gros.

Until that match against the Asian champions, Gros will have another emotional moment on Friday, at the Opening Ceremony, which will take place for the first time outside the Olympic Stadium, with a fantastic show expected on the River Seine.

Gros became the fifth handball player selected as a flagbearer for Paris 2024, and will carry the Slovenian flag alongside canoeist Benjamin Savšek.

I can't wait. It is hard to describe this with words because it's just so many emotions. Honestly, for now, I've not been thinking about it so much because we had this game before, and I was mostly focused on that. But tomorrow, I think when we will be there, and in front of all these people, and holding the flag, I think all the emotions will come,” says Gros.

Usually a sharpshooter, with a great arm for goals, Gros will need all her strength to hold the flag,

“They said the flag is very heavy, so...,” smiles Gros.