Iztok was born on the 17^th of June 1972 in Kranj, Slovenia. He visited elementary school in Lesce and high school in Škofja Loka.

The year of 1985 was crucial for Iztok's future, since that was the time when he first tried out rowing. That year a brilliant career of one of Slovenia's best athletes of all times began.

His first bigger success came in 1989 when he won a Junior World Championship title in a pair, together with his partner Denis Žvegelj, which they defended a year later. In 1991, which was their first year among the rowing ‘legends',  Iztok and Denis shocked the rowing world by winning a silver medal on the World Championship in Vienna, just behind the legendary British pair Redgrave-Pinsent.

On the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 Iztok and Denis won the first medal for a newly formed country of Slovenia (bronze), and a year later they also collected bronze on their last World Championship together in Roudnice, Czech Republic. After Roudnice Iztok set new goals for his career - he decided to try out in the most prestigious rowing event - a single scull. His first season among single scullers was above expectations - he won bronze on the WC, and already in 1995 he achieved one of the climaxes of his career - the World Title in skiff. After that three years of finishing fourth on the most important races of the seasons followed, which was the least he achieved in rowing so far.

In 1999 a new crew was ‘born' - double with Luka Špik. They've been unbeatable for two straight years, including the WC in St. Catharines (CAN) and the Olympic Games in Sydney where the two won the first Olympic gold for Slovenia.

After Sydney Iztok returned to skiff and collected silver on the Worlds in Luzerne and Seville, and bronze in Milan 2003. For the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 he got back together with Špik and rounded up his Olympic medal collection with silver.

2005 was also a very special year in his career: Iztok decided for a double performance on the World Championhip in Gifu, Japan. He and Luka became world chmapions in a double, a day after, together with Prelog and Mizerit an unbelivable season was rounded with a silver in quad. FISA awarded Iztok and Luka with a male crew of the year award.

Iztok, far most successful athlete in the Republic of Slovenia has already achieved everything one can achieve in sport. Despite that fact, his determination to achieve new goals isn't any more modest as it was at the beginning of his extraordinary career.

But Iztok is not only a successful athlete; with his knowledge and experiences he wishes to contribute to better conditions for development of a sport in the country and promote sport between the youth. In the past years he's done a great job promoting the sport of rowing by organizing a sprint regatta on the Ljubljanica River in Ljubljana, Slovenia, called Čop Challenger. With this event Iztok, as one of the best rowers in the history of this sport, wants to show where the rowing should ‘go' in the future in order to satisfy the spectators, sponsors, media...