Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

Éva Székely

The native form of this personal name is Székely Éva. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Éva Székely
Éva Székely in 1956
Personal information
Born(1927-04-03)3 April 1927
Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Died29 February 2020(2020-02-29) (aged 92)
Budapest, Hungary
Sport
SportSwimming
ClubNeményi MADISZ
BVSC, Budapest
Medal record
Representing  Hungary
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1952 Helsinki 200 m breaststroke
Silver medal – second place 1956 Melbourne 200 m breaststroke
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 1947 Monte Carlo 200 m breaststroke

Éva Székely (3 April 1927 – 29 February 2020)[1] was a Hungarian swimmer.[2] She won the gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and the silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics, set six world records, and won 44 national titles.[2] She held the first world record in the 400 m individual medley in 1953.[3]

Biography

Székely was born in Budapest, Hungary.[4] Her mother was Orthodox Jewish from Upper Hungary, while her father was from Transylvania.[5] As a child, she competed for a local swim team[4] and in 1941, at 14 years of age, she set a national speed record, although she was barely allowed to start because she was a Jew[6] and was soon expelled from the team because of her religion.[4] She was excluded from competition for the next four years, and survived the Holocaust partly because she was a famous swimmer.[2] Towards the end of World War II, she lived with 41 people in a crowded two-room “safe-house” in Budapest run by the Swiss, and to keep in shape, every day she ran up and down five flights of stairs 100 times.[4][2]

At the end of World War II she met her husband, Dezső Gyarmati, a three-time Olympic water polo champion (1952, 1956, and 1964) in water polo; they later divorced and he predeceased her in 2013.[4][2][7] Their daughter Andrea Gyarmati, born in 1954, was a backstroke and butterfly swimmer who won two medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.[4][2] After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 the family defected to the United States but they did not stay, returning to care for Székely's parents – from then on the Hungarian authorities did not allow them to leave the country in each other's company.[2]

Székely won three gold medals at the 1947 World University Games[4] followed by five gold medals at the 1951 World University Championship.[4] She won the gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke (setting a new Olympic record) at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and the silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics.[8][2][4] She also set six world records, and won 44 national titles.[2] She held the first world record in the 400 m individual medley, in 1953.[3]

After retiring from competitions Székely worked as a pharmacist and swimming coach, training her daughter among others.[4]

In 1976 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.[3] She was named as one of Hungary's Athletes of the Nation in 2004, and received the Prima Primissima award in 2011.[2] She was also inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[4]

Death

Székely died on 29 February 2020 at Budapest, at the age of 92.[9]

Publications

She authored three books, one of which was translated into other languages:

  • Only winners are allowed to cry! (Sírni csak a győztesnek szabad!) Budapest, 1981, Magvető Kiadó
  • I came, I saw, I lost? (Jöttem, láttam… Vesztettem?) Budapest, 1986, Magvető Kiadó
  • I Swam It/I Survived (Megúsztam) Budapest, 1989, Sport Kiadó

See also

References

  1. ^ Joó, Gábor (29 February 2020). "Meghalt Székely Éva olimpiai bajnok". Index (in Hungarian). Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bull, Andy (3 March 2020). "Holocaust survivor to Olympic gold: the remarkable life of Eva Szekely". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "EVA SZEKELY (HUN)". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2007-01-14.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Jacov Sobovitz. "Eva Szekely". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
  5. ^ Szekely, Eva (1993). "Because I wanted to be an Olympic Champion". In Handler, Andrew; Meschel, Susan V. (eds.). Young people speak : surviving the Holocaust in Hungary. Internet Archive. New York : Franklin Watts. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-531-11044-7.
  6. ^ Hall of fame - Székely Éva. sportmuzeum.hu
  7. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Éva Székely". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.
  8. ^ Andrews, Travis M. "Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
  9. ^ "Elhunyt Székely Éva olimpiai bajnok úszó". Bumm.sk. Archived from the original on February 29, 2020.
Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89va_Sz%C3%A9kely