Athletics
29-09-2008

The greatest hammer thrower died a year ago Gyula Zsivótzky (1937-2007)

The greatest Hungarian hammer thrower, Gyula Zsivótzky, died this day last year. The great athlete got enthusiastic about the win of József Csernák in Helsinki and took a fancy to hammer throwing. He introduced in international competition in Stockholm European Championships in 1958 and he finished in the third place.

He returned home from Rome Olympic Games with a silver medal. In the next European Championships in Belgrade in 1962, he had already been the best of the continent and he trained for Tokyo with high hopes. But he had a serious stomach operation, he spent 200 days in hospital and lost 17 kg. However 6 months later, due to his fantastic will-power, he was nevertheless able to enter for the Olympic Games.

To win the silver medal again was a disappointment to him in spite of the complicating factor. His dream came true in his third Olympic Games participation, in Mexico, he became an Olympic champion. While participating in his fourth Olympic Games in Munich, he finished in the fifth place. His career is hallmarked by 13 individual championships, two world and nine national records.

The national association voted the champion, playing important role also in public life, to be the Hungarian athlete of the century. Furthermore, the international association ranked him among the best one hundred competitors of the last 100 years. He became the Sportsman of the Nation.
He was the vice-president of the association, member of the Hungarian Olympic Committee’s presidency, head of Tradition Preserving Committee (Hagyományőrző Bizottság) and president of Ferenc Mező Public Endowment Advisory Board. He died on 29th September 2007.

His son, Attila, is a talented decathlete. He won junior world championships; he has already participated in Sydney Olympic Games, finished in the sixth place in Athens and finished in the second place in the European Championships in 2006.
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