Irén Karcsics-Daruházi

Irén Karcsics got to know the sport of gymnastics at the MTE children’s tournament, and at the age of 14 became a competitor of Postás SE. After the Second World War Karcsics competed for TFSE, DVTK from 1948, and Vasas from 1951 to 1955. In 1942 and 1943, she became the national youth champion in the individul all-around. In 1946 she won the Hungarian championship on the beam and in 1948 she was the national champion on the uneven bar. Karcsics was already a member of the national team in 1944 and started to do gymnastics there again even after the war.

In 1948 Karcsics was a member of the team that won a silver medal in the team all-around event at the London Olympics. At the 1949 World College Championships in Budapest, she was second in the all-around team event, third on the beam, fourth on the uneven bars, and sixth in the individual all-around and vaulting. At the 1951 World College Championships in Berlin she won a silver medal in the team event. She was a member of the silver medalist team at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, and placed third in the team portable apparatus competition. In 1954 in Roma she was world champion in the team portable apparatus, and second in the team all-around.

In 1949 Karcsics obtained a teaching degree at the College of Physical Education. In the 1949/50 school year she was a teacher at Kilián György High School in Miskolc, before working at the elementary school at 3 Hernád Street in Budapest for a year. From 1951 she was a physical education teacher at Pálné Veres High School, during which time she also led an adult conditioning tournament for 21 years.