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Hungarian Olympic Triumph!
by Bryan Dawson

Did you know...as of 2016, Hungary ranks 8th in the world in medals at the Summer Olympic Games despite its being torn apart after WWI and losing half her population and 2/3 of her territory. This does not include an additional 6 medals won in the Winter Olympics nor the Hungarians that won medals as nationals of other countries after borders were redrawn or after large-scale emigration.

Ferenc Kemeny, founding member of the International Olympic Committee.

The beginnings of the Olympic movement in Hungary go back further than the Games in Athens. Ferenc Kemeny, a great pacifist and member of the International Peace Bureau, was one of Pierre de Coubertin's first kindred spirits, with whom he struck up a friendship in the 1880's.

Kemeny took an active part in the Congress for the re-establishment of the Games held in Paris in 1894 and was one of the founding members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Coubertin supported Kemeny's suggestion to hold the first Olympics in Budapest in 1896 in honor of Hungary's 1000 years of statehood. While the dream of hosting an Olympics is not yet realized, Hungary has won more Olympic medals than any other nation that has never hosted the Games.

Hungary in the Olympics - Select a Year:

       Sections:

• Master Name Index
• Sports
• Science, Mathematics, & Technology
• Film, the Arts, & Media
• Business & Politics
• Military
• Hungarian Nobel Prize Winners
• Hungarian Olympic Triumph
  

COPYRIGHT:
Please ask for permission and CITE this source, attributing Bryan Dawson, before using this information.

• [Start page]
• [Ferenc Kemeny and the Origins of the Olympic Movement]
• [1896, Athens]
• [1900, Paris]
• [1904, St. Louis]

• [1906, Athens]
• [1908, London]
• [1912, Stockholm]
• [1920, Antwerp]
• [1924, Paris]
• [1928, Amsterdam]
• [1932, Los Angeles]

• [1936, Berlin]
• [1948, London]  
• [1952, Helsinki]
• [1956, Melbourne]
• [1960, Rome]
• [1964, Tokyo]
• [1968, Mexico City]

• [1972, Munich]
• [1976, Montreal]
• [1980, Moscow]
• [1984, Los Angeles]
• [1988, Seoul]
• [1992, Barcelona]
• [1996, Atlanta]

• [2000, Sydney]
• [2004, Athens]
• [2008, Beijing]
• [2012, London]
• [2014, Sochi]
• [2016, Rio de Janeiro]
  

1972 Munich Highlights

• Pentathlon legend, Balczo Andras wins his 3rd Gold and another silver
• Weightlifter Foldi Imre wins 3rd Gold!
• Hungarian Fencing continues to dominate:
  • Gold medals in men's team and individual as Dr. Fenyvesi Csaba wins 2 more Golds!
  • 3 out of the 4 bronze medal winning Rumanian women's foil team are ethnic Hungarians!
    • Olga Orban-Szabo takes bronze after winning silver in 1956!
• Kulcsar Gyozo wins his 4th Gold and a Bronze!
• Hesz Mihaly medals again - this time in a different event!
• Swimmer Andrea Gyarmati, daughter of Waterpolo Legend, takes Swimming Gold
• Medalist sets new world record in 100m Butterfly and takes Silver!
• Men's Soccer Team Hungary takes Silver!

Hungarian Medals!

Medal	Name	Event
	Földi Imre	Weightlifting / súlyemelés légsúly 56 kg
	Hegedűs Csaba dr.	Wrestling / birkózás kötöttfogás 82 kg
	Gedó György	Men's boxing / ökölvívás papírsúly 48 kg
	Fenyvesi Csaba dr.	Men's Individual Fencing / vívás tőr egyéni
	Erdős Sándor	Men's Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Fenyvesi Csaba dr.	Men's Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Kulcsár Gyöző	Men's Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Osztrics István dr.	Men's Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Schmitt Pál dr.	Men's Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Balczó András	Modern Pentathlon (team) / öttusa egyéni
	Szűcs Lajos	Weightlifting / súlyemelés lepkesúly 52 kg
	Orbán László	Boxing / ökölvívás könnyűsúly 60 kg
	Orbán László	Boxing / ökölvívás könnyűsúly 60 kg
	Kajdi János	Boxing / ökölvívás váltósúly 67 kg
	Gyarmati Andrea	Swimming Backstroke / úszás 100 m hát
	Bakó Pál	Modern Pentathlon (team) / öttusa egyéni
	Balczó András	Modern Pentathlon (team) / öttusa egyéni
	Villányi Zsigmond	Modern Pentathlon (team) / öttusa egyéni
	Bálint László	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Branikovits László	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Dunai II. Antal	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Dunai III. Ede	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Géczi István	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Juhász István	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Kocsis Lajos	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Kovács József	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Kozma Mihály	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Kű Lajos	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Páncsics Miklós	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Rothermel Ádám	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Szűcs Lajos	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Tóth Kálmán	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Várady Béla	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Vépi Péter	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Vidáts Csaba	Soccer / Labdarugás
	Balczó András	Modern Pentathlon (team) / öttusa egyéni
	Kamuti Jenő dr.	Men's Individual Fencing / vívás tőr egyéni
	Marót Péter	Men's Individual Fencing / vívás kard egyéni
	Bóbis Ildikó (Farkasinszkyné)	Women's Team Fencing / vívás tőr egyéni
	Bóbis Ildikó (Farkasinszkyné)	Women'sTeam Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Szolnoki Mária	Women'sTeam Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Tordasi Ildikó (Schwarczenberger Ildikó)	Women'sTeam Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Rejtő Ildikó	Women'sTeam Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Rónay Ildikó (Matuscsákné)	Women'sTeam Fencing / vívás tőr csapat
	Deme József	Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-2 1000 m
	Rátkai János	Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-2 1000 m
	Wichmann Tamás	Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu C-1 1000 m
	Bodnár András dr.	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Cservenyák Tibor	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Faragó Tamás dr.	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Görgényi István	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Kásás Zoltán	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Konrád III. Ferenc dr.	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Magas István	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Molnár Endre	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Pócsik Dénes	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Sárosi László dr.	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Szívós István dr.	Waterpolo / vízilabda csapat
	Békési Ilona	Gymnastics team / torna összetett csapat
	Császár Mónika	Gymnastics team / torna összetett csapat
	Kelemen Márta	Gymnastics team / torna összetett csapat
	Kéry Anikó	Gymnastics team / torna összetett csapat
	Medveczky Krisztina	Gymnastics team / torna összetett csapat
	Nagy Zsuzsanna	Gymnastics team / torna összetett csapat
	Bakonyi Péter	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Gerevich Pál	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Kovács Tamás	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Kulcsár Gyözo	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Marót Péter	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Pézsa Tibor	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Olga Orban-Szabo	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Ileana Gyulai-Drimba	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Ecaterina Stahl-Iencic (Stahl Jencsik Katalin)	Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat
	Csatári József	Wrestling / birkózás szabadfogás 100 kg
	Bajkó Károly	Wrestling / birkózás szabadfogás 90 kg
	Kiss Ferenc	Wrestling / birkózás kötöttfogás 100 kg
	Klinga László	Wrestling / birkózás szabadfogás 57 kg
	Pfeffer Anna	Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-1 500 m
	Csapó Géza	Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-1 1000 m
	Botos András	Boxing / ökölvívás pehelysúly 57 kg
	Holczreiter Sándor	Weightlifting / súlyemelés lepkesúly 52 kg
	Horváth György	Weightlifting / súlyemelés lközépsúly 82,5 kg
	Benedek János	Weightlifting / súlyemelés pehelysúly 60 kg
	Gyarmati Andrea	Swimming butterfly / úszás 100 m pillangó
	Hargitay András	Swimming freestyle / úszás 400 m vegyes
	Ştefan Birtalan (Bertalan István)	Handball, Men's Team Competition
	Gabriel Kicsid	Handball, Men's Team Competition
	Papp Lajos	Free Rifle / sportlövészet nagyöbu puska összetett

Search all 1972 medalists (in Hungarian)

The 1972 Olympic Logo was designed by renowned Hungarian modern artist, Viktor Vasarely. Marred by a terrorist attack against Israeli athletes and a Soviet - US basketball game eventually called, "the most controversial game in international basketball history," the games continued and saw Mark Spitz, himself of Hungarian heritage, earn a remarkable 7 gold medals and Olga Korbut become a media star. The Hungarians also did quite well. I feature a few of those outstanding Olympians below!

Featured Olympians

Featured Olympian,
Foldi Imre:
(b. 5/8/1938, Hungary, d. )

One of the greatest in modern pentathlon history!
András Balczó, (born Aug. 16, 1938), dominated the sport in the 1960s and is considered among the greatest of the storied line of Hungarian competitors in the modern pentathlon. Balczó participated on the Hungarian team which won the gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where he received an individual silver medal, and a gold medal with the Hungarian team. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich he received the individual gold medal and a team silver medal. He is inducted into the International Sporting Wall of Fame in Nieuwegein. His wife, Monika Csaszar, received gymnastics bronze in Munich

Featured Olympian, Foldi Imre:
(b. 5/8/1938, Hungary, d. )

First Hungarian Olympic Weightlifting Champion!
Foldi competed in a record 5 Olympics and medalled in three, finally taking Gold in 1972, and Silver 1964 and 1968. He started his career in the Hungarian championships in 1957 and won Silver. In 1959 in the world and European championships he took bronze. Though he lifted the same weight as Iranian Muhammad Nassiri, he lost the Gold in '68 because he was 300 grams heavier than  his competitor. He got his revenge the following Olympics taking the Gold and winning handily over the very same Nassiri. In the 13 World Championships in which he competed, he would go on to win an incredible 16 Gold, 16 Silver, and 7 Bronze medals. He was also 13 - time individual Hungarian champion.

Olga Orban-Szabo is an ethnic Hungarian born in Kolozsvar (now called Cluj-Napoca) in Transylvania on 9 October 1938. Competing for Rumania, she won a silver medal in the women's foil event at the 1956 Summer Olympics. She also won two bronze medals in the women's team foil at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics. Her husband, Sandor (Alexandru) Szabo was born in Brasso (now Brasov after Rumanian annexation of Transylvania) competed for Rumania in Water Polo at the 1956 (8th) , 1960 (5th) , and 1964 (5th) Olympiads. Teammate Ilona Gyulai Jenei (Ileana Gyulai-Drimba-Jenei), born on 12 June 1946 also in Kolozsvar won a bronze medal in the women's team foil events at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics

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