According to Pahor, decorations are not only acknowledgements for individuals or groups, but also show that "we can get inspired by other people's victories for the tests that we may be facing ourselves".

Accepting the decoration, Maze said awards also brought responsibility that would need to be taken in the future.

Those awarded do not do their work for the sake of the award, she noted, stressing that being an inspiration to others was the most anyone could wish for.

She said the state had always been supportive of her, even in the hard times she was facing when she decided to form her own team.

In the 2012/2013 season, Maze won 11 races, was on the podium 24 times (breaking a 13-year-old record) and won races in all five events. She was in the top ten in 32 out of 35 races.

She was first overall in the World Cup and also won giant slalom, super-G and super combined, and finished second in downhill and slalom.

Maze, who is setting herself high goals for the coming Olympic season, said that the preparations were running well and that she felt even slightly stronger than in the last season.

Along with Maze, the president also used National Day to decorate the Slovenian minority's secondary schools in Klagenfurt, Austria, the Slovenian musical society in Italy, the Ljubljana-Matica mountaineering association and folklore workers Neva and (posthumously) Mile Trampuš.

Pahor told the recipients that regardless of the reasons for the decoration, they all had a common characteristic: personality, character, a defined system of values and an infinitely strong will to fight for what they believe in.