Éva Székely

Swimmer Éva Székely demonstrated her swimming talent early by setting a Hungarian national record at the age of 14, but her Jewish ancestry meant that the authorities prevented her from competing during much of World War II.

In 1944, when members of Hungary’s Arrow Cross party came to round up Jews in her community, her father told the young Hungarian Nazi who came to take her that she was a Hungarian swim champion and that he would later be happy that he saved her life. In the 1950s Székely saw that man again when she won a gold medal at an international meet on Margaret Island in the Danube and was given her medal by the same man, then a major of the Communist Political Police (AVO).

After the war Székely was a dominant swimmer in Hungary, winning 43 national titles (32 individual and 11 team) between 1946 and 1954. On the international stage, she competed in three Olympic Games, from 1948 through 1956, winning the 200 metre breaststroke in 1952 and placing second in 1956. She also won a silver medal in that event at the 1947 European Championships and set numerous Olympic, World, and European records in individual and relay events.

Székely married Dezső Gyarmati, a five-time Olympic medal-winning water polo player and their daughter, Andrea Gyarmati, ended up earning numerous swimming laurels herself, competing in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, winning silver (100 back) and bronze (100 fly) medals in München. Éva Székely retired in 1957 and that year she and Dezső Gyarmati briefly defected to the United States, although they returned to Hungary in 1958. They later divorced but until then were also the in-laws of Mihály Hesz, who competed in canoeing at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics, winning one gold and one silver medal. Hesz and Andrea also later split up.

After her retirement Éva Székely had a career as a pharmacist. She also coached swimming in Hungary, with Andrea as one of her pupils. In 1976 Éva was made a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, and is also a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.