Hungarian Olympic Triumph: 1996 Atlanta (magyar olimpiai bajnokok)

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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)

• See the International Olympic Committee’s Heroes or
• See Famous Hungarians’ own Sports section