Three-time Olympic champion water polo player Benedek dies aged 47

Three-time Olympic champion water polo player Tibor Benedek has died, his family told the Hungarian Water Polo Association.

Benedek, aged 47, died on Thursday morning after a serious illness, the family said.

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Benedek was a mainstay of the Golden Team, which triumphed in the Olympic tournaments of 2000, 2004 and 2008.

He was national coach of the Hungarian men’s water polo team between 2013 and 2016.

Photo: MTI/Kovács Anikó

Benedek was named Hungarian Water Polo Player of the Year in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 2002.

In 2000 he was voted into the Hungarian water polo team of the century.

The tragic death of Benedek followed the death of another three-time Olympic water polo champion – György Kárpáti, who died on Wednesday at 84.

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Source: MTI