Béla Szekeres

Béla Szekeres’ father was also a renowned cyclist. He won the national championship title in 1950, when his son, Béla Szekeres Jr. (in the sports press: Szekeres II), his teammate and student, also won the championship title in Postás. The first championship title was followed by five more, these as a competitor for Bp. Honvéd and Tipográfia. Szekeres was most successful in the sprint, winning three championship titles, as well as winning two in the tandem and one in the 4,000 metres team pursuit.

And what his father failed to do, his son achieved, finishing in sixth place in the sprint competition at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. In 1954 Szekeres also won the silver medal at the Budapest College World Championships.

Father and son both worked at the same place in the film factory with the young Szekeres as an assistant cameraman. He had several conflicts with the leadership of the sport, so in 1957 he stopped cycling for a while, then started again with high hopes in 1959.

In the 1960s Szekeres left Hungary and found a new home in Germany where he founded a company specializing in the repair of air conditioning equipment. In addition he had a small workshop where he not only repairs bicycles but also restored museum two-wheelers.