United-Kingdom, London – The Visegrád Post shares with you an article originally published in French on Hongrie Actuelle about the European Swimming Championships that took place in London last week.
A little more than two months before the Olympic Games which will take place in Rio, Hungary achieved its best performance in the European Swimming Championships by winning ten gold medals. Let’s have a look on this fantastic week.
It is without Dániel Gyurta – Olympic champion in the 200 meters breaststroke – but with Katinka Hosszú, László Cseh and many young people that the Hungarian delegation traveled to the British capital for the 33rd edition of aquatic European Championships. Preparation for the Olympics for the ones already qualified but last chance to get an Olympic invitation for others, the Hungarian team went back into the pools just few weeks after the scandal that rocked the Hungarian swimming team: the former captain László Kiss was forced to leave his post after the media brought out an over 50 years old case in which he was accused of gang rape and sentenced to prison.
Hungary started with the double gold-bronze of Katinka Hosszú and Zsuzsanna Jakabos at the 400 meters medley. The European Aquatics (LEN) thenawarded prices Katinka Hosszú as Swimmer woman of 2016 and László Cseh as Swimmer man of 2016. On Friday, a bunch of medals fell on the Hungarian team in the Aquatics Centre in London: the Hungarian team gathered seven medals, including four titles. Last weekend, the dream continued until the last day when two gold medal and a beautiful bronze medal at the men’s 4 × 100 m freestyle relay have completed a great week for the Hungarian swimming team.
The most notable performances – heralding further opportunities for Olympic medals – are:
- both titles and the second place on the three butterfly events for László Cseh;
- the supremacy of Hosszú Katinka in medleys and of Boglárka Kapas on longer distances;
- three medals including a title for the different relays.
Besides confirming the usual favorites, this week was also full of surprises with medals and titles won by young talents – Boglárka Kapas (23 years), Liliána Szilágyi (19), Tamás Kenderesi (19) – but also Olympic minima reached by Richárd Bohus (100m freestyle) and Katalin Burián (200m backstroke) are the last two to complete the Hungarian team of 27 swimmers to Rio.
It was thought that the performance of Debrecen in 2012 could not be matched (9 titles), but the red-white-green swimmers proved the opposite this year: Hungary has topped the swimming events with 10 gold medals. Overall, with the diving and synchronized swimming, the country of the Magyars has completed the tournament in second place behind the United Kingdom. Best European swimming nation after the European Aquatics, Hungary will to face the world’s other great swimming teams, such as the USA, China or Australia, in August, in Rio. Hopefully the Himnusz will be heard there many times also!
Translated from French by the Visegrád Post.
See the original article on Hongrie Actuelle.
