József Kovács

From 1943 József Kovács was an athlete of Nyíregyházi Vasutas SC, from 1950 of Budapesti Bástya and Budapesti Vörös Lobogó, and from 1957 of MTK. Kovács was primarily successful in middle and long-distance running. From 1951 he competed for the Hungarian national team a total of 35 times. He was a member of the Hungarian team at three Olympics, winning silver in the 10,000 metres at the 1956 Games in Melbourne.

In 1953 Kovács defeated the later two-time Olympic champion Vladimir Kuts in the 5,000 metres in Budapest, and then in 1954 he became the first athlete to defeat the legendary Czech long-distance runner Emil Zátopek in the 10,000 metres. After the 1960 Roma Olympics he retired from the national team and then ended active sports career in 1962.

After his retirement Kovács became the coach of MTK. In recognition of his career he received the gold medal of the Hungarian Athletics Association in 1984. The Hungarian championship 10,000-metres race is held in his memory as the József Kovács Memorial Race.

Personal Bests: 5000 – 13:47.6 (1959); 10000 – 28:52.36 (1956).