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Many experts said that the Mediterranean Games were unimportant for the superstars of athletics and that the games presented a golden opportunity for young and upcoming stars to shine. And with 10 gold, 8 silver and 17 bronze medals it certainly looks as though Slovenia has a good few of them. The 35 medals also elevated the team to 8th place in the medal table. Slovenia won 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in the athletics disciplines. Matic Osovnikar made a name for himself in Spain, winning both the 100 metres (in a time of 10.35 seconds) and the 200 metres (20.75 seconds). He was also a member of the 4 x 100 m relay team that took bronze. ''I'm slightly anxious that I've hit top form a little bit earlier than expected. My main goal remains the World Championships in Helsinki this August,'' said Osovnikar. Alenka Bikar was the fastest woman over 200 m and Igor Primc was the bronze medallist in the discus throw. Slovenian swimmers were also in top form in Almeria as they faced their last test prior to the 2005 World Championships in Montreal, Canada. Breaststroker, Emil Tahirovic, won the 50 m event and took bronze in the 100 m. Peter Mankoc was fastest in the 100 m butterfly, Blaz Medvesek was unbeatable in the 200 m backstroke and the men's 4 x 100 m medley relay team also took gold. Anja Klinar won the women's 200 m individual medley and came second in the 400 m individual medley. Sara Isakovic took home a brace of silvers from the 200 m and 400 m freestyle events. The swimmers won 12 medals altogether. In the gymnastics, Mitja Petkovsek was expected to win gold on the parallel bars and did so comfortably. Slovenia won three medals in sailing, including Olympic bronze medallist Vasilij Zbogar's gold in the men's single-handed dinghy Laser class. In table tennis, Sasa Ignjatovic and Bojan Tokic fought hard to secure the bronze, tennis players Grega Zemlja and Bostjan Osabnik also won bronze in men's doubles. The rowers brought back two bronze medals whilst the judo squad secured three silvers (Rok Dragsic, Rasa Sraka and Klemen Ferjan) and two bronze medals (Petra Nareks and Urska Zolnir). Bronze medals also went to the women's archery team, bowler Bojan Novak, boxer Robert Kramberger. Teja Savor was third in the women's under 55 kg karate event and Jernej Zupancic Regent took bronze in the men's canoe flat 1000 m race. ''Before the Games I was hoping that our athletes would be able to match their personal bests for the season. Well, many of them not only matched their bests, they bettered them. Not all the big international stars were in Almeria, but the competition was still tough and it wasn't easy to win medals. Many young athletes took the opportunity and produced some great results,'' said Matjaz Jemc, the captain of the Slovenian team.