The Early Years

Hungary was present at the very first modern Olympic Games, and the pattern of its success, in the water and on the fencing piste, was visible early. This chapter covers the Games from Athens in 1896 to Berlin in 1936, with one man, Alfréd Hajós, standing at the head of the story. It also covers the break caused by the First World War, which kept Hungary out of the Games for a time. Names, dates and results are from general knowledge and flagged for checking.

Athens, 1896

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896, organised by Pierre de Coubertin. Hungary sent a small team, and a Hungarian, Ferenc Kemény, was among the founding members of the International Olympic Committee (check the details and the date of the Hungarian committee's founding). Hungary competed as its own nation, though it was part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (check how the team was entered and how the IOC records it).

Hajós: Swimmer and Architect

Hajós is a good guide to the period because his life links sport and the city. He is said to have been moved to swim by the death of his father, who drowned in the Danube when he was a child (check the story). After his Olympic victories he trained as an architect, and designed sports buildings in Budapest, including the swimming stadium on Margaret Island that bears his name (the Hajós Alfréd National Sports Swimming Pool, check). At the 1924 Paris Games he won a silver medal in the art competitions, in architecture, for a stadium design with a partner (check the details). Olympic art competitions were held until 1948 and are no longer part of the Games (check). See Hungarian Architecture for the setting of such buildings in the city.

The First Strengths

• Swimming. Beginning with Hajós, and helped by the Danube and a growing number of clubs (Chapter 5).
• Fencing. Sabre, in particular, was already a Hungarian specialty at the 1900s Games, with team and individual success (Chapter 3, check). The tradition came from military and aristocratic training in the monarchy.
• Athletics and others. Early successes also came in athletics, including the discus at the 1900 Paris Games (check), and in shooting and wrestling over the following decades (check).

The Games at Paris in 1900, St Louis in 1904, Athens in 1906 (the intercalated Games, now not counted by the IOC, check), London in 1908 and Stockholm in 1912 brought steady, if modest, medal totals (check the figures). The sabre team won gold in 1908 and 1912 (check), and a number of the pattern's later champions began to emerge.

The Break: 1920 and After

After the First World War the monarchy collapsed and Hungary lost large territories and population under the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 (check). Hungary, like the other defeated nations, was not invited to the Antwerp Games of 1920 (check which nations were excluded). It returned to the Games in 1924 in Paris. The effect on the sports clubs and the athletes' training is hard to judge (check), but Hungarian sport survived and soon revived. The course describes the events and does not take a side on the larger political questions.

The Interwar Games

• 1924, Paris. Return to the Games, with fencing success (check).
• 1928, Amsterdam. A solid result, with fencing, wrestling and other medals (check).
• 1932, Los Angeles. A strong Hungarian showing, with golds in several sports, including the first Olympic gold in water polo (check; see Chapter 4) despite the long and expensive journey for European teams.
• 1936, Berlin. Hungary finished high in the medal table with ten gold medals, among them water polo, fencing and canoeing (check the number and the events). The Games were held under the Nazi regime in Germany and have a complicated place in Olympic history (check, and note that the course describes the sporting record only).

Exercises