Hugó Ballya

Hugó Ballya was a rower of the Budapest Rowing EE from 1926, and of the Pannónia EE from 1931. Between 1931 and 1939, he won a total of ten Hungarian championship titles. Starting from 1931 Ballya was the member of the Hungarian national team. As a member of the Hungarian eights, he won two gold (1933, 1935), one silver (1938), and one bronze (1931) medals at the European Championships. At the European Championship he also won silver with the coxed four in 1933, and bronze with the coxless four in 1937. He was a member of the Hungarian team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics where the Hungarian eights finished fifth. In 1939, he retired from the national team, and in 1945 he gave up active sports.

In 1935, he obtained a doctorate in law at the Ferenc József University of Szeged. In Budapest, he was the MÁV telegrapher, traffic clerk, then legal advisor, and at the same time coach of the Vasas rowing department from 1948 to 1972. In 1960, he qualified as a coach at the Institute of Sports Management and Coaching. Between 1947 and 1985, he was the head coach of the Hungarian rowing team with several longer interruptions.