The Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has created a storm by her beauty and selfless support of her national team. But do we know what lies beneath her beauty?
1. Born on 29 April 1968, she is a graduate in English and Spanish literature.
2. She has done post-graduation in international relations.
3. She is a Fulbright scholar, who studied at George Washington university, Harvard and John Hopkins university.
4. At the age of 46, in the year 2015, she became president and started pursuing her doctorate in international relations.
5. Don’t get waylaid by her beauty because she is an ex army commando and an ace marksman too.
6. From 2007 to 2011 she was the ambassador of Croatia to US.
7. Then she became the first woman to be the NATO assistant secretary general for public diplomacy. In that capacity she visited Afghanistan number of times to raise the morale of NATO troops deployed there. In the NATO circle she is known as SWAMBO. That is she who must be obeyed.
8. Known as a no-nonsense woman, she instilled discipline and dedication, leading by her own example.
9. She has been voluminously praised by both George Bush Jr and Barack Obama.
10. She bought her own economy class ticket and came to Russia to see Croatia playing. She put on Croatian Jersey and sat at the VIP box breaking all norms. She mingled with spectators and hugged the players, who were sweating and in briefs in the dressing room.
11. She fluently speaks Croatian, English, Spanish and Danish language.
12. Moreover, she is fairly adept in speaking in German, French, Russian and Italian.
13. She was seen speaking to both Putin and Macron fluently in Russian and French respectively.
14. Therefore, she is epitome what a nation’s leader should be, brilliant, savvy and inspiring!
(N.B: Croatia got to the final of the 2018 World Cup, where they were defeated 4-2 by France at the Luznikhi Stadium on Sunday, July 15)
By Alfred Cips Agbonlahor