Page 107 - Olympism in Socialism

medals. Of these, between 1896-1936, at nine
Olympic Games, it had won 34 gold, 25 silver and
20 bronze medals. In the six post-war Olympic
Games between 1948 and 1966 it further bagged
61 gold, 52 silver and 68 bronze medals. During
the 1972 Munich and 1976 \4ontreal Olympics,
its gold tally was 10; it earned 17 silver and 28
bronze medals.
Most of Hungary’s Olympic gold medals have
been won in fencing, the classic Hungarian
virtus-sport. Hungarian football, once world-
famous, has slipped somewhat but in the
pentathlon, water-polo, gymnastics and table-
tennis Hungarians are more or less at the top.
This country is in a position to provide
international-level contestants or teams in over
30 branches of sports in at least 20 of which they
will be among the first ten. Hungary is not a
“great sporting power” but a country with a
dynamic and successful record in sports, a
country where “virtus” has become the stuff
champions are made of.

HUNGARY AT OLYMPICS
Hungary first participated at the Olympic
Games at the inaugural 1896 Games, and has
sent athletes to compete in most Summer
Olympic Games and every Winter Olympic
Games since then. The nation was not invited to
the 1920 Games for its role in the World War I,
and was part of the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984
Summer Olympics.
Hungarian athletes have won a total of 491
medals at the Summer Games and 7 medals at
the Winter Games, with fencing as the top medal-
producing sport. Hungary has won more Olympic
medals than any other existing nation that has
never hosted the Games and has the second
96