Milan Neralic

Milan Neralić , also Michael Neralić , (born February 26, 1875 in Slunj , Croatia ; † February 17, 1918 in Vienna ) was a fencing master and one of the most successful Austrian fencers of his time. He worked as a fencing master in Vienna and Berlin. Neralić was the first Croat to take part in the Olympics .

Career

Neralić entered the army in 1893 and took part in the Wiener Neustädter military fencing and gymnastics instructor course in 1895 . According to Richard Verderber , he was physically quite awkward and was sent back to the regular infantry almost as a "hopeless frequentant". However, through extraordinary training efforts, he compensated for this disadvantage and became one of the most successful Austrian fencers. From 1898 he was a teaching assistant in the Wiener Neustädter course, from 1900 or 1901 military fencing master 2nd class. He won numerous military fencing tournaments, but as a practicing fencing master could not take part in competitions for amateurs. Neralić also competed for Austria at the Summer Olympics in Paris in 1900 and won the bronze medal ( sword for fencing master ). He was only defeated in the semi-finals by Italian Italo Santelli . Until 1908 he still worked as a foil fencing teacher in Wiener Neustadt , in addition he worked as a trainer at the Wiener Union fencing club and the fencing company Friesen.

From 1908 Neralić moved to Berlin and became a fencing master in the German-Italian fencing club and the officer's riding and fencing club. At the beginning of the war in 1914 he had to return to Austria and was employed as a fencing teacher at the Theresian Military Academy . He was also fencing master of the Vienna Union Fencing Club and planned to move permanently with his wife from Berlin to Vienna. As early as 1917, however, he had to give up his job because of an illness to which he succumbed in February 1918. He was buried at the central cemetery (group 67, row 11, number 78).

Neralić was considered a gifted fencing master who was committed to his students with great psychological skill. He trained almost a thousand officers to become fencing teachers through the Wiener Neustadt military fencing and gymnastics teacher course. In Berlin, too, he was able to significantly improve the level of fencing among German officers. His most famous German student was Friedrich Karl von Prussia , who won a bronze medal as a rider at the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912 , but also took part in competitions in modern pentathlon (fencing, riding, swimming, shooting, running). His most successful Austrian student was Richard Verderber with silver (saber team) and bronze (foil individual) at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm . His wife Wilhelmine Neralić also worked as a fencing teacher. After Milan's death, she married the fencing master Martin Werdnik .

successes

Winner of numerous army fighting tournaments from 1889 to 1906.
Bronze medal at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris .
1912 Participation in the academy of the twelve “best fencing masters in the world”.

literature

Hrvatska Enciklopedija , Volume 7, 2005

Web links

Milan Neralić in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

↑ Death book Alservorstadtkrankenhaus, tom. 195, fol. 28 ; Death register Vienna St. Brigitta, tom. 37, fol. 16 . In the literature, Wiener Neustadt is sometimes given as the place of death without a source.
↑ Michael Wenusch, History of the Viennese fencing sport in the 19th and 20th centuries (= dissertations from the University of Vienna 3 ), WUV - Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1996. P. 39ff.
^ Michael Wenusch, History of the Viennese fencing sport in the 19th and 20th centuries (= dissertations from the University of Vienna 3 ), WUV - Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1996. P. 42ff.
^ Michael Wenusch, History of the Viennese fencing sport in the 19th and 20th centuries (= dissertations from the University of Vienna 3 ), WUV - Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1996. P. 42ff.
↑ Austrian Biographical Encyclopaedia: Werdnik, Martin (1865-1930), a fencing instructor , Online
↑ ^a ^b Michael Wenusch, History of the Viennese fencing sport in the 19th and 20th centuries (= dissertations from the University of Vienna 3 ), WUV - Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1996. P. 41f.

personal data
SURNAME	Neralic, Milan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Neralić, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian fencer
DATE OF BIRTH	February 26, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH	Slunj , Croatia
DATE OF DEATH	February 17, 1918
Place of death	Vienna

[1] Death book Alservorstadtkrankenhaus, tom. 195, fol. 28 ; Death register Vienna St. Brigitta, tom. 37, fol. 16 . In the literature, Wiener Neustadt is sometimes given as the place of death without a source.

[2] Michael Wenusch, History of the Viennese fencing sport in the 19th and 20th centuries (= dissertations from the University of Vienna 3 ), WUV - Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1996. P. 39ff.

[3] Michael Wenusch, History of the Viennese fencing sport in the 19th and 20th centuries (= dissertations from the University of Vienna 3 ), WUV - Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1996. P. 42ff.

[4] Michael Wenusch, History of the Viennese fencing sport in the 19th and 20th centuries (= dissertations from the University of Vienna 3 ), WUV - Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1996. P. 42ff.

[5] Austrian Biographical Encyclopaedia: Werdnik, Martin (1865-1930), a fencing instructor , Online

[wenusch-6] Michael Wenusch, History of the Viennese fencing sport in the 19th and 20th centuries (= dissertations from the University of Vienna 3 ), WUV - Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1996. P. 41f.