Evo Trombeek passed away Friday at the age of 85, KNZB reports Saturday. The Croatian (second from left pictured) played an important role in the advancement of Dutch water polo, and as a national coach, he led Dutch men to Olympic bronze in 1976.

In his country, Trumbek is considered one of the best water polo players ever. The most notable event was the Olympic gold medal with Yugoslavia in Mexico City in 1968. Trombic, who had already won the silver medal with Yugoslavia four years earlier in Tokyo, was named the best player in the tournament.

After his football career, Trumbek went to work in the Netherlands, and the Dutch men’s team under his leadership went into enormous development. The bronze in 1976 was the second Dutch men’s Olympic medal (after the bronze in 1948).

After four years at the Moscow Games, the men of water polo finished sixth under the leadership of national coach Trombic.

In 1990, Trombec became a national coach again and qualified with the Netherlands for the Barcelona Games in 1992. After his retirement in 1995 he became coach and coach of AZ&PC Amersfoort.

Trumbic is also known from the book Water poloIt is the standard work for water polo training courses in the Netherlands since the 1970s. In 2018, the New Zealand Football Association appointed him a member of Merit and in 2020 he was awarded the Franjo Bučar State Sports Award, the most important sports award in Croatia.