Hungary’s Olympic Successes

Civic Review· VOL 17. Special Issue, 2021, 343–366., DOI: 10.24307/psz.2021.0024

Summary

The games that took place in the ancient city of Olympia every four years for over a millennium held great interest for the people of Greece, and the same is true for the modern Olympics, which have recently celebrated their125th anniversary. The title of Olympic champion has always commanded great respect, granting victorious athletes lifelong recognition in their homeland. Hungary has been a part of the Olympic Movement since the revival of the Games. Our athletes have represented our nation at every Summer and Winter Olympic Games except for two, and they never returned without victories from the Summer Games. Not too long ago, the first Hungarian gold medal was won in the history of the Winter Olympics. The performance of Hungarian Olympians has always been remarkable. As a result, statistics and assessments show that Hungary is a real sports nation, among countries that boast the best results. This has been demonstrated by the six gold medals and altogether twenty podium finishes achieved in Tokyo. With the recent successes at the Tokyo Olympics in mind, the purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of certain relevant aspects of the history of the Olympics and the success achieved by Hungarian athletes throughout the years. It also aims to examine the room for maneuver of the evaluation and analysis of the Olympic results, including dynamic approaches and comparisons with international results.

Keywords: Olympia, Olympism, Olympic Games, Olympians, Hungarian team, championship, gold medal, podium finishes