Orbán: Hungary’s Olympic achievements serve as basis for 2024 bid

Hungary’s achievements in the history of the Olympics serve as the basis for its bid to host the 2024 Games, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.

In Rio, Hungary has once again beaten countries bigger and more prosperous than itself, Orban told MTI after witnessing Hungary’s victory in the women’s 500 meters kayak four, the country’s eighth gold medal at the 2016 Games.

“The total Hungarian population makes up 0.2 percent of the world population. And yet we beat the world eight times. That is eight times that we were the best out of seven billion people on Earth,” the prime minister said.

He noted that more countries won medals this year than at the London Games four years ago while the number of events were the same. Hungary’s athletes therefore had to seriously raise their game just to ensure that the country keeps its position, he said. In Rio, Hungary is so far ranked 12th in the gold medal count and 16th on the overall table.