in the world. Đurić was drafted into the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) at the age of 17, and became an officer during his service. With the impending Bosnian War, his father wanted either him or his brother to leave the country in order to preserve the family line. He was instructed to leave his hometown as he was younger and a sportsman. Đurić recalls: "My father fought in this war, my brother for almost five years and my mother was killed in 1993 by the Muslim army. They bombed our village and it hit my home directly. A really big bomb and my mother died instantly [...] So many people like me lost mothers and fathers in this bloody civil war but for me I hold no grudges. I don’t look at race, I look at people by their hearts and here in Singapore I adopted a Muslim child." With just 300 Deutsche Marks on him, Đurić left for Serbia where he played football in the second division for one season and then Sweden, where he trained with AIK and was offered refugee status which he rejected. The break-up of Yugoslavia left him stranded in Hungary without a recognised passport. He wandered through the cafes and restaurants of Szeged before a family offered him accommodation and a trial at local club Szeged LC in the second tier of the Hungarian football league. 1992 Summer Olympics In 1992, Đurić received an invitation from the newly formed the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina to compete for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the C-1 500 m canoeing event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Despite not having trained for two years and the ongoing conflict between the Serbs and the Bosniaks, he accepted the request as he ultimately decided he was first and foremost a sportsman. As the Bosnian Olympic Committee could not afford to pay for his travel, he had to hitch-hike his way over to Barcelona. With only a letter from the Olympic Committee and no valid passport, he managed to get a truck ride to the Austrian border but was initially refused passage by a disbelieving immigration officer who thought he was a refugee seeking asylum. After convincing them of his credentials with a phone call to the Olympic Committee, the border guards helped him persuade someone to take him half-way to Slovenia, where he managed to get another