Barbara Jelić-Ružić

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Barbara Jelić
Personal information
Full name Barbara Jelić-Ružić
Novo Mesto, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 75 kg (165 lb)
Spike 320 cm (130 in)
Volleyball information
Position outside hitter

Barbara Jelić-Ružić (born 8 May 1977) is a former international volleyball player for Croatia. She stands 1.93 meters tall.

Barbara Jelić was born in Novo Mesto. At 17 she went to Japan to play as a professional for five years, where she was frequently honored best player in different categories.

As an outstanding outside and opposite hitter she led the Croatian team with her father Ivica Jelić as coach to three silver medals at the European Championships 1995, 1997 and 1999, a sensational 7th place at the Olympics in Sydney 2000 and a 6th place at the World Championship 1998 in Japan. Thereby she often scored more points than the rest of her teammates all together. Accordingly she was elected best scorer at the WC 1998, the World Cup 1999, the Olympic Qualification 2000 and more. In 2000 she was honored best player of Europe. She was considered the most valuable player at the Sydney Games.

After her time in Japan she played in the Italian and Turkish league gaining further titles - with an interruption to become a mother - and called it a career in 2004. She briefly returned to support Croatia at the European Championship in her home country in 2005, persuaded by her coach-father to be a role model for young Croatian girls. After a good 3rd place in preliminaries with outstanding Ruzic, Croatia finished ranked 8th with Ruzic being slightly injured in the final round.

In 2001 she married Tomislav Ružić, a Croatian basketball player.