Vlašić's high jump world title in 2007, Sušanj's 800 meters gold medal at the 1974 European Championships in Athletics was widely seen as the greatest individual achievement in the history of Croatian athletics. , his winning mark of 1:44.07 still stands as the Croatian record. In 2002, the Croatian Athletics Federation named Sušanj the all-time best Croatian male track and field athlete. Political career Until 1990, the year he entered politics, Sušanj was employed as a sports worker in Rijeka. In the first democratic election in Croatia, he obtained a seat in the Croatian Parliament and served as an MP until 1992. In the 1990s, he served as deputy-mayor of Rijeka and president of the Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, a regional party active in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. In 2000 Sušanj was again elected to the Croatian Parliament, and became president of the Croatian Athletics Federation and vice-president of the Croatian Olympic Committee. In 2002 he ran for the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee, but lost to Zlatko Mateša. In 2003, Sušanj left the Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar over disagreements with its president Nikola Ivaniš, and entered the newly formed Autonomous Regional Party (), of which he was a co-founder. References External links 1948 births Croatian male middle-distance runners Croatian sports executives and administrators Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Croatian male sprinters Croatian sportsperson-politicians Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Yugoslavia Sportspeople from Rijeka Living people Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar politicians European Athletics Championships medalists Yugoslav male sprinters Yugoslav male middle-distance runners Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1971 Mediterranean Games