Sportsmanship or Showmanship?

2024 is a year of the Olympics and Paralympics. Every four years, the best athletes from all over the world gather and compete in a variety of events. Who will be the best of the best? This year, both events are hosted by Paris. The next Olympics will be in Los Angeles. In my country, when our top favorite, Kristóf Milák was defeated and got silver in the 200 meters butterfly event, the newspapers stated, “How

long do we need to wait for golds?”. This article functions as a response to this. On the other hand, Italy could congratulate for the gold, silver, and bronze as well. Why are we so desperate for gold medals? We are not on the fields; we are not the athletes. What if you had to compete in the Olympics? As I stated before, the Olympics are not held every year, just every four years. Gathering the best athletes from all over the world. Our national sports newspaper, the “Nemzeti Sport” made a very controversial headline on August 1st. Are we really this desperate that the other medals’ value is nothing, just the gold? Do you know how hard they are preparing for this event? Have you ever participated in their training? In my view, even if you cannot make it to the finals at the Olympics, you are already a winner. You would have deserved the gold for your preparation. Do you know how many years of training are behind an Olympic silver medal or an eighth, tenth, or even just participation? Let me list here a few Hungarian medals which went completely unnoticed.

First, let me tell you the one that was the most unnoticed and even gave the ground for unfair and unreasonable criticism from the commenters as well. That is, the 200-meter butterfly final with our favorite, Kristóf Milák. Remember, he was the titleholder for the event, and a few years before he destroyed the decade-old world record of Michael Phelps. Then, he became the world champion once again three years later, further improving his world record. Unfortunately, a tragedy struck his life and killed his motivation. He did not disclose what exactly happened. He just lost motivation. Can it happen that an athlete loses motivation and trains on his own? Yes, it can. Then, the Swimming Federation issued a warning to him that “he owes for Hungary”. He owes for whom? Or even, does he owe? I do not think so. He had already shown what he could do. Leave him alone and let him decide if he wants to compete or if he does not want to compete in the World Championships. He trained on his own and he was still in good condition. This year, in the European Championships, as a main rehearsal before the Olympics, he won two gold medals. Therefore, he showed that he is alive and is still able to compete. What if he decides not to take part in the European Championships? Nothing happens. He had already won my heart; he will always be a winner for me. He jumped into the pool for the 200-meter butterfly at the Olympics and advanced to the final with the best qualifying time. But the final is a different game at every event. 8 of the best swimmers of all time from all around the world. His main rival, the home favorite, Léon Marchand swims right beside him. Then they jump into the water, Milák takes the early lead and leads the pack. Remember that the 200 meters butterfly is one of the killer events in swimming. Milák shows that he has power, but so has Léon. Léon came out victoriously, owing much to the support of the locals. I am still proud of Kristóf. He did a great job on his own, his hard work resulted in a silver medal in the killer event. There was a Hungarian commenter who said: “he gave it as a gift to the Frenchman”. What are you talking about? Were you in the pool? Go there, and swim this whole event. I don’t think that a silver medal is a loss for him. Just saying, a few days later, in the shorter killer event, the 100-meter butterfly, he brought home a gold with an excellent swim. I was jumping in front of the TV, like everyone who supported Milák. He did an excellent job at the Olympics; he made our nation proud once again. Remember László Cseh from the last Olympics: he had already won everything behind Michael Phelps, he is a swimming legend. He was still able to get to the finals at the age of 36. He finished eighth, yet the winner went to him and kissed his hand. This means how much respect he had for the whole swimming world. Dear commenter, who says it was your own opinion, go, approach Kristóf Milák and kiss his hands a dozen times. Because this is what he deserves from us, viewers. He is a sportsman, not a showman. We must respect that. He also won a gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly in a harsh competition. So, leave him alone. A medal is a medal. Olympic participation is also a great achievement.

The same day, our men’s saber team reached the final in fencing, the opponent was South Korea. Saber fencing has a great tradition in Hungary, in the 1930s the Hungarian men’s saber team was pretty much unbeatable. We also have a plethora of Olympic medalists individually. The men’s team is comprised of stars, like the three-time back-to-back individual Olympic champion, áron Szilágyi, or the two-time world champion, András Szatmári. Yet the other team is very athletic, and fast and also full of world champions, like Gu Bon-gil and Oh Sang-uk. The Hungarians fought very well, but the Asians were superior in athleticism and fast reaction. Every nation with tradition in saber fencing hates facing Korea. They like accusing them of killing the whole sport by rushing. It is not how it works in fencing. You must be very intelligent and know when to attack and when to defend. Moreover, fencing is about chivalry. You must salute at every bout to the attendance, the judge, and your opponent. France, Italy, and Hungary are the best saber fencers in the world by respecting traditions and rules. Fencing is not about fast reactions and senseless attacks. You must be intelligent and think as well. I apologize to my Korean readers, but your fencers made it a horse’s stable. But turning back to the original topic, Hungary won a silver in this very harsh competition, beating other top nations, like Italy and Iran. I am proud of them for reaching a silver. This means they are second-best in the world right now. I think this tells everything. I do not care who the winner is! They got a silver medal in a harsh competition. For me, Hungarian fencers are at the top of the world, because they keep the traditions alive in fencing. I brought this example here because Hungary tends to consider team efforts nothing and if they lose, they lose because of one person, and if they win, they are all divine beings. No, my dear friend. What is the point of fencing? Sportsmanship and chivalry. They are sportsmen, not showmen. I do not even have to go into details about how much it means that they are the second-best in the world in fencing.

Let me bring here another criminally unnoticed medal of our athletes. Female athletes often go unnoticed in my country, which is a crime. Our society thinks about them as disposable objects. I have many examples of it, but here I am only talking about the Olympic Games itself. The same sports newspaper does not even think about writing a headline about our female athletes, fails to even put them at least on the first page, let alone headlines. We have two talented taekwondo athletes, who are twin sisters, Viviana Márton and Luana Márton. Viviana could clinch the qualification for the Olympics. Her first ever Olympics, first as a Hungarian woman. Taekwondo is relatively young in the program of the Olympics; it was introduced in 1988 as a demonstration and was granted a place in 2000 in the calendar. Again, harsh competition. Viviana defeated the former African champion, two-time world champion in the first round, then in the quarter-final, the Pan-American bronze medalist. In the semi-final, she faced the defending world champion. Without fear, she won the battle securing a place in the final against the silver medalist in the world championship, Aleksandra Perisic of Serbia. With discipline and bravery, Viviana Márton won this match and the gold medal. After the match, I had the chance to listen to her speech. She was born in Tenerife and trains in Madrid with the world’s best athletes in taekwondo. Her coach is Finnish. What a result it is from her, too! Hopefully, it will make this Korean martial art more popular than ever in Hungary. She is very lively and cheerful, just like her sister. A typical Hungarian is not like this. Yes, that is already Spanish in them. Spanish people are lively, chatty, and passionate. We need people like this who can show that a good Hungarian can be lively and hospitable as well. We are. A few decades ago, if you went to a village, some elderly might have offered you a place to stay, eat a few bites, et cetera. It did not matter where the traveler was from, they offered him/her a place to stay. Why cannot we do the same again? It will not hurt anyone.

Last, but not least, let me mention the gold medal of our modern pentathlete, Michelle Gulyás. Modern pentathlon is everything that is required by a sportsman or sportswoman. I must praise the guy who invented this discipline. It consists of fencing, horse-riding, swimming, and a running-shooting combined event. One must be exceptionally talented to do well in all these events. One-hit epee fencing, swimming 200 meters freestyle, 3 kilometers of horse-riding, and on top of all, 3 kilometers of running combined with shooting. What makes a good sportsman or sportswoman? Intelligence, chivalry (fencing), fitness (swimming), grace (horse-riding), persistence and concentration (combined event). All on one day. Can you do it and show all of it at once? I cannot even describe how difficult it is to perform high in all these very different events. You must be a genius to do it. Scoring a medal in it is already a wonderful thing by itself, let alone a gold one. But our athlete, Michelle Gulyás excelled in all events and brought the gold home. This means she is the best pentathlete in the whole world. She is a policewoman by profession and is a true world citizen. She was born in London, and went to kindergarten in Slovenia and Italy, before moving to Hungary. However, the reason why her gold medal is mentioned here is how it was received by our Prime Minister. He said: “winning is knowledge, and this young lady gave us an example of it”. Young lady! I do not even know what can be lower than this! Calling Queen Elizabeth II “madame” in a reception, or referring to our Nobel Prize winner, Katalin Karikó “a lady from Kisújszállás” is the third sign of Hungary completely ignoring women and treating them as “expendables”.

All things considered; we must respect our athletes irrespective of their gender. Do not tell them off if they do not bring a gold medal. In my view, being the second-best in any event is a dream for anyone, and could serve as an idol. I would not be able to complete these events myself, especially a pentathlon. Moreover, to add some insult to the injury of our national sports newspaper, the Nemzeti Sport, on the very next day, our backstroke swimmer Hubert Kós clinched the first Hungarian gold medal. He is trained by Bob Bowman, who is known for being the coach of Michael Phelps and Léon Marchand. He had a decent start for this killer event and was near the medaling positions throughout the race, yet the Greek swimmer, Apostolos Christou far away from him was still a body length ahead of him at the last turn. The Greek swimmer was completely exhausted at 25 meters before the finish line and Hubert was right next to him and eventually took the gold medal. This means he clinched the gold in the last few meters. We don’t have to expect a gold medal from any of our athletes. I can only say to those who comment that “Kristóf Milák gave it as a gift to the Frenchman” that go, do it by yourself. Please do it! Are you also an active swimmer? Have you ever medaled in any tournament before? Do not hide behind expressing your opinion about Kristóf Milák! He is a two-time Olympic champion right now and a three-time world champion. Are you satisfied now? These people are sportsmen and sportswomen, commenters want them to be showmen and showwomen. They desired an award for sportsmanship, especially the pentathlete because she won the event requiring the most of it. Showmanship has no place in fencing, as you will face disciplinary proceedings for doing so resulting in suspension.

Sources

·?????? If you can speak Hungarian, you can see the controversial headline of the Nemzeti Sport here

·?????? Who is Kristóf Milák? What about Léon Marchand?

·?????? See how Kristóf smashed the world record of Michael Phelps for the first time here

·?????? If you can speak Hungarian, read the article on the “debt” of Kristóf here

·?????? What is fencing?

·?????? What is taekwondo?

·?????? If you can speak Hungarian, you can listen to this interview with the Márton sisters, made just after the final. You can hear how chatty they are.

·?????? You can see the gold medal match of Viviana here

·?????? Watch the gold medal of Hubert Kós here

·?????? Watch how Kristóf Milák won the gold in 100 meters butterfly here

·?????? If you can speak Hungarian, read the controversial sentence of Viktor Orbán about Michelle Gulyás here

·?????? If you can speak Hungarian, read the article what Viktor Orbán said about Katalin Karikó, our Nobel Prize winner here

·?????? A brief biography of Michelle Gulyás is available on the page of the Hungarian Police here, read if you can speak Hungarian