Károly Takács

Károly Takács entered the military at a young age, serving as a sergeant. He began shooting as a competitor in the Honvéd Officers’ Sports Association. His life took a big turn when he lost his right hand in a grenade accident in 1938, which led to him learning to write and shoot with his left hand. At the 1939 Lucerne World Championships he was already a member of the gold medal winning five-man rapid-fire pistol team, and came fourth in the individual discipline. In 1940 he became the Hungarian champion in the small-bore sports pistol event.

During World War II Takécs served as a front-line officer. After the war, as a competitor for the Partizán Sport Klub in Budapest and then the Budapest Honvéd, he became a five-time national champion in the sports pistol, a single-time national champion in the small-bore sports pistol, and a four-time national champion in the large-bore sports pistol. At the 1948 London Olympics he won the gold medal in the rapid fire pistol competition. Four years later at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics he defended his Olympic title in the same discipline. Behind him his own student, Szilárd Kun, won the silver medal. In his last Olympics, at the 1956 Melbourne Games, he finished eighth.

At the 1955 European Championships in Bucharest and the 1958 Moscow World Championships he won bronze medals in the individual military pistol and team sports pistol. He was a member of the national team twenty-five times during his career. As an active athlete he also took on the role of head coach for the Budapest Honvéd shooting team. Among his pupils were Szilárd Kun and László Hammerl. After his retirement he continued to work as a coach of the Honvéd and a shooting instructor at the Zrínyi Miklós Military Academy until his death.