Zoltán Horváth

Zoltán Horváth began his sporting career in 1952 as a fencer for Vasas. Horváth became a first-class fencer in 1953 and won a national youth championship title a year later. At the adult level he won three national championship titles. In 1956 he placed third in the individual national championships but was not selected for the Melbourne Olympics. In 1957 he joined the Bp. Vörös Meteor team and was selected for the Hungarian national team.

His greatest individual success came in 1962 when he won gold at the World Championships in Buenos Aires. Horváth won four team world championship titles and was a member of Hungary’s gold-medal sabre team at the 1960 Roma Olympics. There he also won a silver medal in the individual event, finishing behind his teammate Rudolf Kárpáti.

After the legendary trio of Gerevich, Kovács, and Kárpáti retired, Horváth was widely considered the rightful heir to Hungary’s sabre fencing tradition. A serious car accident in 1964, however, nearly ended his career. Though he returned to competition, he never achieved his previous success and retired relatively young, just past 30. In 1971 he briefly returned for one competition but was injured again and retired for good.

Horváth began coaching in 1970 and worked abroad between 1973 and 1983 in Chile, Greece, and Italy. After returning to Hungary he distanced himself from fencing competitions and voluntarily withdrew from the scene. Following a family tradition, he later took over his father’s stamp dealership.