András Balczó was born in August 16, 1938 (Kondoros, Hungary). Balczó is probably the most successful pentathlete of the history when it comes to collecting medals. His achievements are amazing: in Olympics Games he won 5 medals: 3 golds (1 individual -München 1972- and 2 with team mates - Roma 1960 and Mexico 1968) and 2 silver medals (1 individual - Mexico 1968- and 1 with the Hungarian team - München 1972). He finished 4th in Roma 1960. He didn't compete in Tokyo 1964 Games, so his Olympic record could have been even more impressive (the record of individual gold medals belong to Lars Hall (SWE) and Andrey Moiseev (RUS) though, since they won the competition twice each one). He also won 19 medals in World Championships (Gold: 10 - 5 individual, 5 team competition; Silver: 7 - 2 individual, 5 team competition; Bronze: 2 individual) which shows he can be considered the best pentathlete of his generation, if not of the history (note: since the sport changes a lot within the years, in its format and also in its techniques, it's not an easy task to make comparisons, but maybe it's safe to say he is the greatest pentathlete of history if we could measure it). His best discipline was the cross-country running, followed by swimming and fencing.
He is now married to Monika Császár, a former gymnast (it's his second marriage) and they have 12 children (!). He became an extremist Christian and joined a fascist party, Jobbik, which was in 3rd place in this year's Hungarian parlamentary elections. Even though this is a sport blog, I have to register here that fascism is extremely dangerous and dumb.
You can find more (detailed info) about Balczó at the following links:
Wiki profile:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A1s_Balcz%C3%B3
World Championships Medals:
http://sports123.com/mpe/mw-i.html
Olympic record:
http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Athletes/All-Athletes/Athletes-BA-to-BM/-Andras-Balczo-/
Balczó's life after retirement from the sport:
http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/balcz%C3%B3-andr%C3%A1s/
He is now married to Monika Császár, a former gymnast (it's his second marriage) and they have 12 children (!). He became an extremist Christian and joined a fascist party, Jobbik, which was in 3rd place in this year's Hungarian parlamentary elections. Even though this is a sport blog, I have to register here that fascism is extremely dangerous and dumb.
You can find more (detailed info) about Balczó at the following links:
Wiki profile:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A1s_Balcz%C3%B3
World Championships Medals:
http://sports123.com/mpe/mw-i.html
Olympic record:
http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Athletes/All-Athletes/Athletes-BA-to-BM/-Andras-Balczo-/
Balczó's life after retirement from the sport:
http://esbalogh.typepad.com/hungarianspectrum/balcz%C3%B3-andr%C3%A1s/
it is a lie that Balczó and the party he joined would be fascist
ReplyDeleteIt's not a self proclaimed fascist party, however it's perceived as a fascist party by many people in many countries since it matches several aspects of fascist parties, like strong authoritarism, nationalism, xenophoby and others. While the definition of "fascist" can be poorly and thoughtlessly used to attack right-wing people/parties, a far right-wing party with such an agenda like Jobbik can be defined as fascist even though they won't agree and would prefer another name - but it's hard not to link with the 30's. Anyway, Balczó is just great and his political views shouldn't overshadow the great athlete and person he is - I wasn't sure about adding this post-retirement part however I think it shouldn't be neglected; geniuses can be very controversial and I strongly disagree with his political party's views and admire him as an athlete and individual.
DeleteWhere did you get this from? Balczó András is not a member of any political party. His brother Balczó Zoltán however did join the Jobbik (far right) party in Hungary.
Delete