French Team Triumphs at 8th World Olive Picking Championship in Croatia

Summary

Postira, a vil­lage on the Croatian island of Brač, hosted the International Symposium on Olive Oils of Croatia and the Adriatic Coast in September, fol­lowed by the eighth World Championship of Olive Picking, attract­ing com­peti­tors from around the world. The event trans­formed the small vil­lage into a global story, blend­ing tra­di­tion with cre­ative tourism, and con­cluded with France win­ning the cham­pi­onship by har­vest­ing 64 kilo­grams of olives in 45 min­utes.

The pic­turesque vil­lage of Postira, on the Croatian island of Brač, is becom­ing an increas­ingly global stage. After host­ing the International Symposium on Olive Oils of Croatia and the Adriatic Coast in September, orga­nized by Olive Oil Times, the spot­light returned from October 9 to 11 for the eighth World Championship of Olive Picking.

“We’re build­ing a des­ti­na­tion brand that doesn’t imi­tate but inspires,” said Ivana Jelinčić, direc­tor of the Postira Tourist Board. Alongside the Tourist Board, the event was sup­ported by the Municipality of Postira, the local agri­cul­tural coop­er­a­tive and the Aldura Sport agency — trans­form­ing a small fish­ing and farm­ing vil­lage into a global story.

Competitors from Every Continent

“Thanks to the World Championship, the whole world has heard about our small town,” Jelinčić added, not­ing that the event, which blends island olive-grow­ing tra­di­tion with cre­ative tourism, once again brought together 12 teams and 48 com­peti­tors from around the world.

Each team con­sisted of four mem­bers — two women and two men. At the open­ing cer­e­mony, teams from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, France, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Sweden and the United Kingdom were intro­duced, along with a Digital Nomads team whose mem­bers came from the United States, Malaysia, the Canary Islands and Bolivia.

“In these eight years, we’ve hosted com­peti­tors from every con­ti­nent, even from coun­tries where olives aren’t grown,” Jelinčić said. ​“This year, 70 per­cent came from coun­tries with­out olive cul­ti­va­tion, which shows how pop­u­lar this Mediterranean fruit and this event have become.”

Hand Picking and Secret Weigh-In

The com­pe­ti­tion began Friday at 10:30 a.m. in St. Joseph’s olive grove above Postira under sunny, almost hot con­di­tions. Despite the chal­lenge, spir­its were high. In keep­ing with tra­di­tion, the olives were hand-har­vested. Competitors filled burlap aprons — known locally as sakete—then trans­ferred the olives into team crates.

After 45 min­utes, crates belong­ing to last year’s Lithuanian cham­pi­ons, as well as those of the French and Finnish teams, appeared the fullest. Many expected the Croatian ​“All-Stars,” led by bas­ket­ball leg­end Dino Rađa, to con­tend for the podium. Rađa, a for­mer Boston Celtics player, was eas­ily the tallest com­peti­tor in the grove.

He was joined by Dr. Ivica Lukšić, direc­tor of Zagreb’s Dubrava Clinical Hospital and a native of Sutivan; Ivana Vladović, head of the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board; and artist Tisja Kljaković Braić.

Speed and skill were evi­dent through­out the grove, but the win­ner would be deter­mined solely by weight. The offi­cial weigh­ing took place under the super­vi­sion of Miljenko Cvitanić of the Postira Agricultural Cooperative. Results were kept secret — only team cap­tains saw their totals — until the Saturday evening gala, when the cham­pi­ons were announced.

The har­vested olives were later processed at the coop­er­a­tive mill, and each par­tic­i­pant received a bot­tle of extra vir­gin olive oil made from the olives they had picked them­selves.

Announcing the Champions

At the awards cer­e­mony in Hotel Pastura, the four-mem­ber team from south­ern France claimed first place after har­vest­ing 64 kilo­grams in 45 min­utes. ​“Although we’ve been in olive grow­ing for 25 years, we didn’t expect to win on our first appear­ance at the World Championship,” said French cap­tain Guy Pacouill. ​“We enjoyed every moment — meet­ing teams, exchang­ing expe­ri­ences and tast­ing some excel­lent oils from Brač.”

Lithuania, last year’s cham­pi­ons, fin­ished sec­ond with 63 kilo­grams, while Croatia, led by Rađa, earned bronze with 59 kilo­grams.

Final Results:
1. France – 64 kg
2. Lithuania – 63 kg
3. Croatia – 59 kg
4. Finland – 58 kg
5. – 6. United Kingdom and Digital Nomads – 46 kg
7. – 8. Sweden and Serbia – 45 kg
9. – 10. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovakia – 40 kg
11. Poland – 39 kg
12. Romania – 30 kg

In total, 575 kilo­grams of olives were har­vested, yield­ing 92 liters of extra-vir­gin olive oil. As tra­di­tion dic­tates, the cham­pi­onship con­cluded with a song, dance, and cel­e­bra­tion that lasted late into the night.

Lunch and Poetica Gin

After the weigh­ing, com­peti­tors enjoyed a clas­sic Dalmatian marenda—a late-morn­ing meal pre­pared in the grove by chefs from the Association of Chefs of Mediterranean and European Regions (ŠKMER). Students from the Vladimir Nazor School in Postira con­tributed tra­di­tional Brač desserts, accom­pa­nied by music from the local Trio Naranča.

Complementing the island wines, olive oil and Ožujsko beer was Poetica Gin, pro­duced by Jelena and Drago Nosić of Vrgorac in the Dalmatian hin­ter­land. ​“Poetica has been a proud part­ner of the World Championship in Olive Picking for three years now,” the cou­ple said.

Their Poetica Olive Infused Gin — made with Brač’s native Oblica olives — won a sil­ver medal (92 points) at this year’s IWSC com­pe­ti­tion in London.

Excursions to Škrip and Dol

On Saturday, par­tic­i­pants toured Škrip, Brač’s old­est set­tle­ment, vis­it­ing the Olive Oil Museum to see how oil was once pro­duced with stone mills and man­ual presses. They learned to rec­og­nize qual­ity olive oil and sam­pled olive-based del­i­ca­cies.

The group then con­tin­ued to Dol, a pic­turesque vil­lage sur­rounded by steep ter­raced groves where pick­ers often secure them­selves with ropes for safety. The event once again impressed vis­i­tors and com­peti­tors with its orga­ni­za­tion and atmos­phere.

“It’s that spirit — the joy, the friend­ships and the beau­ti­ful mem­o­ries teams take home from Postira, Brač and Croatia — that gives us the energy and inspi­ra­tion to keep improv­ing every year,” Jelinčić said.

Ancient Roots

Olive cul­ti­va­tion has long been a cen­tral aspect of Brač, the largest island in Dalmatia. Written records of olive grow­ing date to the Roman geo­g­ra­pher Strabo in the first cen­tury B.C., while Emperor Diocletian men­tioned it again in the third cen­tury. The Venetian Republic later pro­moted olive plant­ing to expand pro­duc­tion. In the 16^th cen­tury, its Senate decreed exile for any­one who dam­aged or felled an olive tree, while grooms were required to plant a set num­ber before their mar­riage.

By the late 18^th cen­tury, more than 500,000 olive trees grew on Brač, pro­duc­ing more oil than the entire Dalmatian main­land. Today, around one mil­lion trees cover two-thirds of the island’s farm­land, mainly of the hardy, drought-resis­tant Oblica vari­ety.

In 2022, Brač olive oil earned the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) sta­tus, and Brač pro­duc­ers con­tinue to win top awards, includ­ing mul­ti­ple awards at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition in New York.

Olive Oil and Tourism Hand in Hand

“We’re prov­ing that agri­cul­ture and tourism can thrive together—šoto­braco, as we say on Brač,” Jelinčić explained. ​“This cre­ates an authen­tic expe­ri­ence for vis­i­tors and a healthy, ful­fill­ing life for locals.”

The event’s suc­cess was rec­og­nized inter­na­tion­ally in 2019 when the Creative Tourism Network named the World Championship the Best Creative Tourism Experience at Madrid’s FITUR Fair, selected from 160 projects world­wide. ​“That award was a great honor — but also a respon­si­bil­ity to keep improv­ing,” Jelinčić said. ​“Congratulations to the new world cham­pi­ons, and thank you to every­one who made this year’s island gath­er­ing unfor­get­table. See you next year.”

The warmth, joy and sense of com­mu­nity born in those groves will con­tinue to glow in par­tic­i­pants’ hearts long after the event has ended.