They have been at the summer Olympics since the first modern day Olympics of 1896. 472 medals have been won, with 162 of those 472 being gold medals.
Fencer Aladar Gerevich (pictured) has the most individual gold medals amongst Hungarian athletes with seven. He won gold in the individual sabre at London 1948, and in the team sabre at Los Angeles 1932, Berlin 1936, London 1948, Helsinki 1952, Melbourne 1956 and Rome 1960. He died in 1991 at the age of 81.
Fencers Pal Kovacs and Rudolf Karpati both have six gold medals each. Kovacs won the men's individual sabre at Helsinki 1952, and in the team sabre at Berlin 1936, London 1948, Helsinki 1952, Melbourne 1956 and Rome 1960. Karpati won gold in the individual sabre at Melbourne 1956 and Rome 1960, and in the team sabre at London 1948, Helsinki 1952, Melbourne 1956, and Rome 1960.
Two Hungarians have five gold medals each in the summer Olympics-Agnes Keleti and Krisztina Egerszegi. Keleti, a gymnast, won two of those five on the floor exercise at Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956. She also won on the team portable apparatus at Melbourne 1956, and also at those Melbourne games, she won two more-one in the uneven bars and one in the balance beam.
Clearly one of the best backstrokers in history, Egerszegi (pictured) won five medals, four of them in the backstroke. At Seoul 1988, she won the 200m back at age 14. She would win the 200m back two more times-at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996. She also won the women's 100m back at Barcelona 1992, and also at Barcelona, she also won another gold-in the women's 400m IM (individual medley).
Three Hungarian athletes have won four gold medals each:
- Jeno Fuchs (fencing)
- Gyozo Kulcsar (fencing)
- Tama Darnyi (swimming)
Ten Hungarian athletes have won three gold medals each, including one of their most recent gold medalists, canoeist Natasa Janics. Janics won three gold medals-two at Athens 2004 in the women's kayak 500m singles and doubles, and at Beijing 2008, won in the kayak 500m doubles. Janics joins these nine others that have won three gold medals for Hungary in the summer Olympics:
- Zoltan van Halmay (swimming)
- Endre Kabos (fencing)
- Tibor Berczelly (fencing)
- Laszlo Rajcsanyi (fencing)
- Laszlo Papp (boxing)
- Andras Balczo (modern pentathlon)
- Csaba Fenyvesi (fencing)
- Zoltan Kammerer (canoeing)
- Botand Storcz (canoeing)
Men's water polo happens to be the most dominant team when it comes to that sport. The Hungarians won nine gold medals, including their win over a brutal Soviet squad in the final at Melbourne 1956.
Also in team sport, men's football (soccer) won three gold medals, at Helsinki 1952, Tokyo 1964 and Mexico City 1968.
As of now, 81 Hungarian athletes will compete in 12 events at London-including various athletics events, swimming, boxing, cycling, modern pentathlon, wrestling and will field a men's water polo team as usual.
Up next: Iceland
No comments:
Post a Comment