When you know that we are one team

Congratulations note to our Olympic athletes by Predrag Mihajlovic, president of the Executive Board of OTP Bank.

THANK YOU! YOU HAVE DEMONSTRATED COMITMENT, COMBATIVENESS AND EFFORT IN YOUR PERFORMANCES

Our athletes have proudly returned from the Tokyo Olympics with nine medals, of which three are golden, one silver and five bronze. On this occasion, Predrag Mihajlović, the president of the Executive Board of OTP Bank – the biggest sponsor of the Olympic Committee of Serbia, sent a congratulatory note to everyone who proudly represented our country at this most prestigious sports competition.

“I want to express my great gratitude and deep respect to all our participants at the Tokyo Games for representing our country and themselves in the right way, in accordance with the highest sporting values.” Few could remain indifferent to the dedication, fighting spirit, effort and emotions they demonstrated in their competitions, especially considering the year behind us and all the challenges that it has brought. For 20 years, OTP banka and the Olympic Committee of Serbia have been dreaming and preparing for great things together and, in the Olympic year, we are achieving our goals, pushing the boundaries and, most importantly, we are there for each other. We rejoice at providing support to our athletes and at helping them represent our Serbia with pride.

Once again, on behalf of OTP Bank and my own, I wish to congratulate the winners of medals.  Milica Mandić and Tijana Bogdanović once again confirmed that we have been a superpower in taekwondo for years. We are proud of our shooters, Damir Mikec and Milenko Sebic, congratulations for this great achievement.  In a new Olympic discipline, our 3 x 3 basket squad has shown great strength and potential in this sport. Our  Zurab Datunašvili has continued in the best way possible the tradition of winning medals in wrestling at the top world competition.  World and European champion Jovana Preković made history at this year’s Games and became the first Olympic champion in the history of karate. In team sports, we once again confirmed how important it is to fight together. Water polo players maintained their dominance in the pool by winning the gold medal, and our bronze volleyball and basketball players once again showed that we are a superpower in these sports.

I also congratulate friends from the Olympic Committee of Serbia, President Božidar Maljković, First Vice President Žarko Zečević, Vice President and President of the Sports Commission and gold medal winner Milica Mandić, Secretary General Đorđe Višacki and the head of mission of the Serbian Olympic team Nataša Janković, on the top results, excellent organization, preparation and effort invested to fully protect athletes and prepare them for competitions in a situation when the whole world ground to a halt.  Executive director Damir Stajner also deserves special credit for excellent conditions for athletes, and for the achieved successes, and I hereby wish to thank him as a friend, partner and sports fan.

Common values and striving to achieve the set goal is what connects and motivates us to support the best among us. This is precisely the reason why we have remained a reliable partner to our Olympic athletes for five Olympic cycles already.  I must point out that OTP banka never hesitated to continue cooperation in exceptional circumstances that led to the postponement of the Games, uncertainty about its holding, sport events without the public.  Because friends are there for each other even when things are at their toughest, even in the midst of the pandemic, OTP banka without hesitation prolonged the partnership for the next Olympic cycle, and together we continue towards new successes at the upcoming 2024 Summer Games in Paris,” said Predrag Mihajlović on the occasion of the end of the Tokyo Games.

Proud sponsor of the Olympic Committee of Serbia

In the segment of sponsorships, OTP bank holds an unbroken “state record” so far!

OTP bank is one of the biggest sponsors and the official bank of the Olympic Committee of Serbia for the fifth Olympic cycle. This cooperation is by far the longest sponsorship in Serbian sport and is often an example of fruitful, inspiring and successful cooperation between the business sector and sports institutions.

The topic of “Olympism” is extremely important for us because we believe that nurturing values such as “fair play”, perseverance, focus, discipline, focus on success – are key prerequisites for the development of a prosperous, healthy and sustainable society as a whole. We strive to nurture these values in our daily operations.

We look forward to showing that the story of the importance of sport, activism, responsibility and connecting all actors in society through one noble and generally good idea is a possible and inspiring story.

We are still on that path even stronger, and this year is especially important for us because of the upcoming the Olympic Games in Tokyo!

Together to Tokyo

The Olympic Games are one of the most important sporting events globally, when the strengths of the best athletes in the world are measured!

The medals from the Olympic Games somehow have a special shine and remain remembered for all times, because playing for the national team and being the best representative of a country carries great responsibility and implies great dedication and sacrifice.

On that path, this year as well, OTP bank provides strong support to our best athletes before the Olympic Games in Tokyo. As part of a promotional campaign dedicated to this great sporting event, but above all to our champions, we have created videos and interviews in which some of our best athletes show and talk about what it means to be the best and how much strength and courage it takes to travel to Tokyo.

Enjoy!

You will surely be inspired!

Interview Nemanja Majdov

Interview Milica Starović

Interview Aleksandar Šoštar

Circle of support - Who are you cheering for

Serbian Olympians said: Thank you very much, you are our heroes!

Although they have been preparing for the Olympic Games in Tokyo for years, our Olympians will have to wait another year – the Games have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic for 2021. In the combat against the virus, our medical workers have become true heroes, but also salesmen, teachers, farmers … all those who do their jobs every day for the benefit of all of us.

In the midst of the pandemic, during the day when everything was closed, when sports competitions were canceled, the need for support was greater than ever, which resulted in the campaign of Vojvodjanska banka and the Olympic Committee of Serbia “Circle of Support” with messages from athletes who encourage each other and the whole community, emphasizing unity and solidarity.

“When the state of emergency was declared in our country, we were all already preparing for Tokyo and we did not even dream that the Games for which we had been preparing for a long time would be cancelled. The seriousness of the situation pointed out to us the importance of unification in order to achieve the goal through team efforts and provide support to those who need it the most. We realized that the encouragement that was otherwise sent to us, is now needed by someone else, “said taekwondo fighter Tijana Bogdanović.

“In uncertain moments and defeats, the audience does not deny support, but cheers louder, encourages and motivates us to continue the game, reverse the result and take the victory. Even sitting at home, we feel that Olympic, team spirit and we support all those who stand on the first line of defence. Thank you for everything they have done in the past period, “said judoka Nemanja Majdov.

The “Circle of Support” campaign dedicated to supporting the community was declared the best sports sponsorship project in Serbia in 2020 in the selection of the regional organization SPORTO.

In this way, OTP bank also achieved a place in the international competition, entering the competition for the prestigious “Best of Europe” award, which is awarded every year in London by the European Sponsorship Association (ESA).

See how Serbian Olympians - taekwondo fighter Tijana Bogdanovic, rower Milos Vasic, athlete Mihail Dudas, judoists Nemanja Majdov and Aleksandar Kukolj, kayaker Milica Starovic, swimmer Caba Siladji, wrestler Davor Stefanek and shooter Zorana Arunovic, paid tribute to all the real heroes of the crisis in the video campaign of the Olympic Committee of Serbia and OTP banka "Who are you cheering for"

And what does "Olympism" mean to you

In order to support young non-established artists at the beginning of their professional development, we hame established cooperation with the Metropolitan University of Belgrade and invited graphic design students in their final years to share with us their creative experience of “Olympism” with all that it can mean to them.

From the most successful works, and it was not easy to make such a choice, we created a set of official promotional material of the bank in the upcoming Olympic year. We thank all participants for their wonderful contribution so that the theme of “Olympism” gets new, original and creative impressions and concrete visual solutions. Enjoy the gallery of the most successful works!

An Olympian among us

Our dear colleague Branislav Stojanović, employed in the branch in Kikinda, was the representative of Serbia at the Olympic Games in Sydney, in 2000 in the relay competition (4x400m).

The experience of a top athlete is in itself unique, rare and valuable in everything. In the conversation with Branislav that we share with you, we discovered what it means to be a top athlete and how much this experience has enriched him and influenced other segments of his life.

Interview Branislav Stojanović

Where we were with our best athletes

We gladly remember where we were all together with our best athletes! Memories are important because they remind us how many great moments are behind us, how important the duration is, how much the cooperation between Vojvođanska banka and the Olympic Committee of Serbia has improved, how much we have grown as partners and how much more is ahead of us.

• Athens Summer Olympics (2004)
• Turin Winter Olympics (2006)
• Beijing Summer Olympics (2008)
• Vancouver Winter Olympics (2010)
• Singapore Summer Youth Olympic Games (2010)
• Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck (2012)
• London Summer Olympics (2012)
• Sochi Winter Olympics (2014)
• Nanjing Summer Youth Olympic Games (2014)
• First European Olympic Games in Baku (2015)
• Rio Summer Olympics (2016)
• Pyongyang Winter Olympics (2018)
• European Games in Minsk (2019)
• Summer European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku (2019)

In addition to the biggest Olympic sporting events, we have supported our athletes at a number of smaller but equally important sporting events.

Every time, with all our hearts, we cheered with all our might!