Miklós Szilvásy

Miklós Szilvásy started wrestling at the age of 16 in the BVSC, winning the youth championship title five times. Later he was an athlete of ÉDOSZ (FTC) and then Budapesti Dózsa. He won the Hungarian championship eight times in Greco-Roman and three times in freestyle.

After World War II Szilvásy worked as a policeman. In 1946 he was shot in the left leg with a machine gun during an action. It seemed that this injury could mean the end of his sports career, but he did not give up. Just over a year after the incident he won the Hungarian championship.

Between 1946 and 1956 Szilvásy represented the Hungarian national team 34 times, achieving his international successes in the welterweight division. He won a silver medal at the 1948 London Olympics, losing to Sweden’s Gösta Andersson. He also finished second at the 1949 Budapest and 1951 Berlin World College Championships. At the 1952 Helsinki Games he and Andersson once again faced each other in the final, with Szilvásy this time winning gold to record Hungary’s 50th Olympic gold medal. After the Helsinki Games he won another silver at the World Championships in 1953, and in 1954 he was the college world champion in Budapest. Szilvásy also qualified for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, but it did not go as he had hoped, finishing seventh after two wins and one loss.

After his retirement he continued as a coach. He worked at the BVSC and the FTC, as well as with the national team. He did not neglect his police career either, and as a captain - later as a major - he was given a significant task: as an officer, he supervised the entertainment venues in Budapest. Szilvásy died very young, at the age of 44, due to an incurable illness.