THE AUTHENTIC REPLICA OF THE OLYMPIC MEDAL OF ALFRÉD HAJÓS

HISTORICAL • OLYMPIC

HE SWAM 100 LAPS A DAY IN RUDAS BATH – THE FIRST OLYMPIC CHAMPION OF HUNGARY, ALFRÉD HAJÓS

The personal story of museum founder János Angyal about this sport relic

Pál Schmitt, (then) President of the Hungarian Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) honoured our Museum with a visit on April 15, 2010. After watching the exhibition he told me that the Museum is world class and could have a prestigious place in Lausanne at the Olympic Museum of the IOC.

To express his appreciation, he gave me the authentic replica of the gold medal of the first Hungarian Olympic Champion, Alfréd Hajós which he won in Athens, 1896. The IOC only issued a limited number of copies.

Alfréd Hajós: the first Olympic Champion of Hungary. Even though he learned how to swim at the age of four, he started to go deeper with the sport at the age of 13 when his father drowned in the Danube. He trained hard, swam 100 laps / day in the 17-metre-long pool of Rudas bath – and did all that in the early morning, before the pool was opened for guests. 16 swimmers competed in the 12 °C water of the Bay of Zea in Athens and Alfréd Hajós reached the finish line first.

Pál Schmitt captured our meeting with a few pleasant lines written in our Guest Book.

FROM THE JUMPING GALA ARCHIVES

2010

Pál Schmitt writes in the memorial book of the museum

2010

Pál Schmitt’s kind words in the memorial book of the museum