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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:

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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, Munich]
• [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]
  

1996 Atlanta Highlights

• Hungarian Fencing still dominates!
  • Bence Szabo and the Men's Fencing Sabre repeat Silver
• Hungarian Swimmers continue to dominate!
  • Attila Czene sets New Olympic Swimming Record, takes Gold!
  • Legendary Krisztina Egerszegi wins her 5th Gold Medal!
  • Swimmers Norbert Rozsa and Karoly Guttler finish 1 - 2 in 200m Breastroke (Guttler repeats '88 Silver!)
    
• Hungarian kayak / canoe also continues medal performance!
  • Rita Koban takes Gold again!
  • Ferenc Csipes and Men's Kayak 4 team repeat Silver
  • Gyorgy Zala medals again
• Future WBO Featherweight Boxing Champion, "KO KO" Kovacs takes Gold! Zoltan Lunka takes Flyweight Bronze from Germany!
• Hungarian-American Karch (Charles of Károly) Kiraly becomes only volleyball player in Olympic history to win three Gold medals! He is the only person to have won Olympic gold medals in both the indoor and beach versions of the sport.
• Jozef (József) Gönci' wins Bronze - independent Slovakia's first ever Olympic Medal. He won another bronze in Athens 2004, and was Slovakia's Flag Bearer in London 2012.

Medal	Name	Event
	Krisztina Egerszegi	Swimming, Women's 200 m backstroke
	Norbert Rózsa	Swimming, Men's 200 m Breaststroke
	Attila Czene	Swimming, Men's 200 m Individual Medley
	Balázs Kiss	Athletics, Men's Hammer Throw
	István "KoKo" Kovács	Boxing, Men's Bantamweight
	Csaba Horváth	Canoeing, Men's C2 500 m Canadian Pairs
	György Kolonics	Canoeing, Men's C2 500 m Canadian Pairs
	Rita Kőbán	Canoeing, Women's K1 500 m Kayak Singles
	Karch Király	Beach Volleyball
	Attila Adrovicz	Men's Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-4 1000 m
	Ferenc Csipes	Men's Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-4 1000 m
	Gábor Horváth	Men's Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-4 1000 m
	András Rajna	Men's Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-4 1000 m
	Csaba Köves	Fencing, Men's Sabre Team
	József Navarrete	Fencing, Men's Sabre Team
	Bence Szabó	Fencing, Men's Sabre Team
	Szilveszter Csollány	Gymnastics, Men's Rings
	Károly Güttler	Swimming, Men's 200 m Breaststroke
	Jozef (József) Gönci	Shooting, 50 metre rifle prone
	Imre Pulai	Canoeing, Men's C1 500 m Canadian Singles
	György Zala	Canoeing, Men's C1 1000 m Canadian Singles
	Csaba Horváth	Canoeing, Men's C2 1000 m Canadian Singles
	György Kolonics	Canoeing, Men's C2 1000 m Canadian Singles
	Géza Imre	Fencing, Women's Épée Individual
	Éva Erdős	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Andrea Farkas	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Beáta Hoffmann	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Anikó Kántor	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Erzsébet Kocsis	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Beatrix Kökény	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Eszter Mátéfi	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Auguszta Mátyás	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Anikó Meksz	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Anikó Nagy	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Helga Németh	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Ildikó Pádár	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Beáta Siti	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Anna Szántó	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Katalin Szilágyi	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	Beatrix Tóth	Handball, Women's Team Competition
	János Martinek	Modern Pentathlon, Men's Individual
	Ágnes Kovács	Swimming, Women's 200 m Breaststroke
	Krisztina Egerszegi	Swimming, Women's 400 m Individual Medley
	Attila Feri	Weightlifting, Men's Lightweight (70 kg)
	Zoltan Lunka	Boxing, Men's Flyweight (51 kg)

- Read more on [Wikipedia]
- Search all 1996 medalists (magyarul / in Hungarian)

Featured 1996 Olympians

Featured Olympian,
Norbert Rozsa:
(b. 2/9/1972, Budapest, Hungary)
Rozsa swam his first race at 7 and has been a member of national team since 1989. He became World champion at 100 and 200m Breaststroke in 1994 and held the world record for the 100m Breaststroke between 1991 and 1993, when teammate Karoly GUTTLER lowered the standard from 1:01.29 to 1:00.95. A motivated Rozsa improved dramatically to become world 100m Breastroke champion at Perth, Australia in 1991and also took second in the 200m event. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona,he finished 2nd in both 100m and 200m Breaststroke. His guardian at the time was Gyorgy Zemplenyi, who is being hunted by Interpol on suspicion of fraud...after Zemplenyi disappeared, Rozsa left Hungary for Australia.

After training at the Australian Institute of Sport for a year, Rozsa returned to Hungary and renowned coach Tamas Szechy. Rozsa missed the 1993 European Championships in Sheffield, but returned to win 2 world titles in Rome the next year. In 1995, he was 4th in both 100 and 200m Breaststroke at the European Championships in Vienna...

Look at this incredible record:

• World Records: 100m Breastroke - World Record 1:01.29 - Rome ITA 20 AUG 91; World Record 1:01.45 - Perth AUS 8 JAN 91; World Record 1:01.49 - Perth AUS 7 JAN 91
• World Champion: 1991, 1994 (100m Breastroke), 1994 (200m Breastroke)
• 1992 Olympics - 100m Breaststroke Silver, 
• 1996 Olympics - 200m backstroke Gold

Featured Olympian, Istvan "KO KO" Kovacs:
Olympic, World Amateur, and World Professional Featherweight Boxing Champion...
 Istvan 'KO-KO' Kovacs announced his retirement from professional boxing on March 1,2002. After a successful amateur career, Kovacs turned professional and won the World Boxing Organization featherweight title against Dominican Antonio Diaz in Munich in January 2001.

Six months later, in front of 15,000 stunned fans in Budapest, he lost the title on a sixth-round technical knockout to Argentine Julio Pablo Chacon. Kovacs returned to the ring, but after beating a Nicaraguan fighter decided to hang up his gloves. World amateur champion in 1991 and 1997, Kovacs won Olympic gold at the Atlanta Games and bronze in Barcelona. He also won gold at the 1991 and 1996 European amateur championships

Karch Kiraly:
(b. 11/3/1960, Jackson, Michigan, USA)

The "greatest volleyballer ever"...
Charles (Károly) Frederick "Karch" Kiraly (prounounced "Kee-rye") of the United States is regarded by many as the greatest volleyballer ever. He learned the game from his father, a Hungarian doctor who had played the sport in his native country, and on the beaches of California, where Kiraly grew up. In 1986, the FIVB declared him the top player in the world, the first time that distinction had been given. He won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, 1985 World Cup, 1986 World Championships, and 1987 Pan-American Games. He played at UCLA in college, where he led them to three NCAA championships and was twice named most valuable player of the NCAA Tournament. Playing professionally in Italy, he helped Il Messaggero win the 1991 World Club Championship. Later a star at beach volleyball, he was the leading money winner and top player at that sport for most of the early 1990s. At Atlanta in 1996, Kiraly partnered Kent Steffes to win the inaugural Olympic gold medal in beach volleyball. He did not compete at the 2000 Olympics, but continues to compete on the beach volleyball circuit. 

Olympic medals: Gold: 3
World Championships: Gold: 1 (1986)
Pan American Games: Gold: 1 (1987)