Hungarian Olympic Moments

Calgary, Canada

Hungarian Olympic Moments

1896

Olympic Games, Athens, Greece

Alfréd Hajós, the first modern Olympic swimming champion and the first Olympic champion from Hungary.

1928

Olympic Games, Antwerp, Belgium

Attila Petschauer, the Olympic champion in men’s fencing (then called the “sabre”). He died in a Ukrainian concentration camp during World War II, and his story became the basis for the movie “Sunshine” starring Ralph Fiennes.

1952

Summer Games, Helsinki, Finland

Hungary’s most successful summer games, finishing 3rd in medal rankings behind the USA and the USSR, with 16 Gold, 10 Silver and 16 Bronze Medals.

1956

Summer Games, Melbourne, Australia

Water polo semi-final, Hungary vs. USSR, when a mass of Hungarian supporters besieged the Soviet players after Valentin Prokopov headbutted Ervin Zádor, cutting his eye open.

1988

Summer Games, Seoul, Korea

Krisztina Egerszegi, who until her record was broken in 1992, was the youngest woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming. She competed in 3 Olympics, and won 5 Gold Medals. She is one of only 3 people to have ever won the same event at three consecutive Summer Olympics.