5 legendary Hungarian athletes

We tend to say Hungarians are good at everything. A little bit of this, a little bit of that – the famous Hungarian ingenuity. Joking aside, we could say we have many talented people in various fields. This is true of athletes competing in many types of sports; we have a bunch of professionals to be proud of. The list is so long it would not fit one article, so I tried to choose five of the most legendary figures. Let’s take a look at them.

Ferenc Puskás (1927-2006), Football

If you say “Puskás” in any part of the world, people will immediately reckon who he is, but this is the first word almost everyone says when you tell them you are Hungarian. Puskás “Öcsi” is surely the number one football player of Hungarian football, an Olympic Champion and Silver medalist of the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland with the famous Golden Team. He played for Budapest Honvéd and Real Madrid during his club career, winning almost everything that was possible at that time, making him one of the most decorated players not just in Hungary but in the world as well:

5 Hungarian League and 5 Spanish League titles, 1 Spanish Cup title, 3 UEFA European Champion Clubs’ Cups.

And who could forget his famous pullback trick goal in Hungary’s 6-3 win over England at Wembley in 1952? See it from 2:40 in the summary of the “match of the century” below:

Unfortunately, he had to emigrate after the revolution of 1956 failed. He was seen as a deserter for a long time, it was even forbidden to say his name publicly, and he could only come home in 1981. His nickname was “Pancho” in Spain, but Hungarians called him “the Galloping Major” as he earned that rank during his service in the military. He died at the age of 79 in 2006.

Alfréd Hajós (1878-1955), Swimming/Football

He is one of the most versatile personalities of Hungarian athletes: he was a swimmer, a football player, a trainer, a referee and he even worked as an architect. The press called him “the Hungarian dolphin”. He swam between 1894 and 1896. He took part in the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.

He won both the 100 m and the 1200 m freestyle, thus winning the first and second Olympic gold medals of Hungary.

As a football player, he signed for Budapest TC in 1898 and played there until 1904, winning two Hungarian Leagues (1901, 1902). After finishing his university studies at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, he worked as an architect and opened his own office in 1907. He was quite successful in his profession as well, winning an Ybl Miklós Award and a silver medal in architecture at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. He died in 1955.

Krisztina Egerszegi (1974-), Swimming

Egerszegi, or “Egér”, as everyone calls her, is a five-time Olympic Champion and multiple time European and World Champion swimmer. She became the youngest Olympic Champion at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games at the age of 14. That win in 200 m backstroke is one of the dearest victories in the history of Hungarian swimming.