He made his first appearance at a major competition when he ran the men's 800-metre at the 2002 European Athletics Indoor Championships, finishing second to last of all runners who finished. In the men's 800-metre at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, Salihović recorded a personal-best time of 1:48.10. A year later, Salihović became the first Bosnian after the breakup of Yugoslavia to run a middle-distance race at the Olympics when he ran in the third heat of the men's 800 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics. However, he didn't beat his personal best time, recording a time of 1:49.59 (min:sec), although he finished ahead of Jan Sekpona.