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This young Croatian skier soon shone in competition. Thanks to support from Olympic Solidarity and the Croatian Olympic Committee she has had a number of successes including wins at international competitions.

Janica Kostelic was born in Zagreb (Croatia) on 5 January 1982. She began skiing at the age of three. In 1995, on the recommendation of the Croatian Olympic Committee, Janica and her brother, Ivica, also a skier, received an Olympic scholarship for young promising athletes. Aged 13, she had already proved her great skiing talents by winning gold and silver medals in slalom and giant slalom at all the Junior European competitions. Her brother, Ivica, obtained the same results in the cadet category.

The Olympic scholarship programme, offered jointly by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Olympic Solidarity and the Croatian Olympic Committee, allowed these young athletes to obtain the necessary financial assistance to support the costs of training, coaches, and those linked to competitions. The main aim of this scholarship is to offer young athletes the means to qualify for the Olympic Games.

From 1995 to 1997, Janica continued her schooling despite the numerous training sessions and competitions in which she participated as a member of the Croatian national team. Her school results were exemplary. Janica's training was spurred on by her coach and father, Ante Kostelic.

During the 1997/1998 season, she began to participate in senior competitions and FIS World Cup events. She was only 15 years old. Her main aim that season was to qualify for the XVIII Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. She was the first skier in history to achieve this; barely two months after her transfer to senior category, she obtained the number of FIS points required to qualify for the Olympic Games in the five disciplines.

In February 1998, Janica participated in the Nagano Winter Games. At 16 years old, she was the youngest participant in the Alpine skiing events. She won an Olympic diploma for finishing 8th in the combined event. She came 24th in giant slalom, 25th in downhill and 26th in super G. Sadly, a fall prevented her from finishing the slalom.

After her first Olympic Games, she won the silver medal in the combined and the bronze medal in super G at the World Championships in France.

After the Olympic Gmaes, her Olympic scholarship naturally came to an end. But her notoriety was sufficiently great to attract national and international sponsors.

In 1998/1999, she came 11th in the World Cup general rankings.

The 1999/2000 season was marked, above all, by her knee injury from a fall during training in St Moritz in December 1999. Sadly, due to operation after operation, her season finished disappointingly, and she was classed only 22nd in the general rankings at the World Cup.

After numerous injuries, her return to the 2000/2001 World Cup was remarkable. Janica won seven of the eight slalom events. She could have completed the grand slam if her knee had not given way in the last event. Nevertheless, it held up long enough for her to win the World Cup after a fierce battle with defending Champion Renate Goetschl. When Janica won the title, she became the youngest World Champion for 20 years. She remarked simply that she "didn't think about it" and that "it was nothing special". She added that her aim was to win the gold at the Games in Salt Lake City: "My aim is the Olympic medal. The rest is just work. It's just skiing."