Barbara is not only Croatia's best home-grown player, she is also the coach's daughter. Ivica Jelić seems to have taught her daughter very well, for she has become Croatia's go-to hitter and in most tournaments in which she participates, the top scorer ('98 World Championships, '99 World Cup and 2000 Olympic qualification tournament). She is what most people refer to as a cannon, a player who bangs balls mercilessly and with ease. She plays as outside hitter on a team that prior to Sydney used three to four former Soviet players in their lineup: Yelena Chebukina, Tatyana Sidorenko, Irina Kirillova (Parkhomchuk), and Maria Likhtenshtein all helped the former Yugoslav republic obtain great results, such as the fifth-place at the '95 World Cup. But despite the enormous talent that Croatia imported from the former Soviets, Barbara was still the team's go-to hitter. She quickly learned how to be an efficient attacker and blocker, and in the latter '90s she became one of the world's best players.

When she played for a club in Japan, Barbara was immediately hailed as Yevgeniya Artamonova's greatest rival, for both players had very similar playing styles: strong outside hitters with stiff arms but incredible efficiency. Especially in Japan, where the average blocker poses no threat to hitters of this caliber, it can be understood why Jelić and Artamonova were seen as near-goddesses. At the Sydney Olympics, and with the new rule that only one naturalised player who played for a former national team can be included in a team's roster, Barbara will have an increased role to play for Croatia. Ivica Jelić will most likely take Yelena Chebukina for some solid middle blocking, but the star will remain Barbara. She already managed to qualify her team at the Tokyo tournament, coming in third place over China, the Netherlands, and Japan. It remains to be seen how much Barbara will be used by her setter at her first Olympics—hopefully not to exhaustion—as it seems that her other teammates have stepped up their games to relieve Barbara of the pressure of being the team's sole primary hitter. In any case, Ivica has to be very proud of his achievements.