Dezső Gyarmati
1 2016-11-09T08:32:20-08:00 Johanna Mellis 337c8aa15975253503108a6ba2daff82d0111139 12595 1 1950s-era image of Dezső Gyarmati, during the height of his sport career. plain 2016-11-09T08:32:20-08:00 Johanna Mellis 337c8aa15975253503108a6ba2daff82d0111139This page is referenced by:
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Dezső Gyarmati: The Athlete Who Got it All
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Dezső Gyarmati's life went quite differently than Benedek’s. He defected briefly to the United States with his wife, the highly successful swimmer Éva Szekély. When they left Hungary, it was not with the rest of the Hungarian Olympic team. Instead, they returned to Hungary after Melbourne. But after reportedly getting beaten up by some Russian soldiers, the two decided to defect on their own accord (and resources) just before Christmas of 1956. They lingered in Austria, hoping to gain visas and passage to the United States. Gyarmati and Szekély made it to America. But without any aid from the US government, the pair left and went to Italy, hoping to try their luck with the well-developed water polo circle there. After some negotiation with the Hungarian government, they returned to Hungary in 1958.[1] Unlike Szűcs, Gyarmati's defection did not spur a death sentence. Gyarmati faced a 1-year suspension from competitive sport. Gyarmati rejoined the national team late in 1958 however, and competed for Hungary at the 1960 Rome Olympics. After retiring, he became the coach of the national water polo team in the mid-1970s. His career peaked in 1976, when the Hungarian men’s water polo team won the gold medal at the Montreal Olympics that year.
The significant difference in how the defections of Szűcs and Gyarmati were treated illustrates a near-radical shift in sport leaders' tactics with athletes. Rather than be relegated to the background (like Benedek), Gyarmati is still considered the best Hungarian water polo player of all time. The below video, made in his honor after his death, shows the reverence that surrounded Gyarmati. He was and still remains a hero in the eyes of Hungarians. In many ways, he really was the athlete who got it all.[1] Harry Blutstein, Sport and International Politics in the 1950s (forthcoming 2017). -
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Cases 3 & 4: Members of the Olympic Revolutionary Committee
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The Melbourne Olympic Games began a mere two weeks after the 1956 Revolution ended. The athletes themselves did not find out about the Soviet invasion and crushing of the rebellion until after they arrived in Australia. Many of the athletes at that point decided not to return to Hungary.[1] The Hungarian Olympic team formed a Revolutionary Committee as a sort of sport counterpart to the numerous revolutionary committees and councils that were created during the Revolution itself.
Two of the elected leaders of the Revolutionary committee were pentathlete Gábor Benedek and water polo player Dezső Gyarmati. Both of them were punished upon their return to Hungary. Bender (shown above) had won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics, and was the champion at the 1954 World Pentathlon Championships. When he returned to Hungary after Melbourne, he was forced into retirement by the Hungarian Physical Education and Sport, and stripped of his privileges. By 1959 he was allowed to begin training young pentathletes, several of whom went on to have enormously successful careers. He ended up defecting to West Germany in 1969.
Dezső Gyarmati's life (shown above) went quite differently. He defected briefly to the United States with his wife, the highly successful swimmer Éva Szekély. After touring the States with the help of Sports Illustrated magazine, they returned to Hungary in 1957. He faced a 1-year suspension from competitive sport. Gyarmati rejoined the national team in 1958, and competed for Hungary at the 1960 Rome Olympics. After retiring, he became the coach of the national water polo team in the mid-1970s. His career peaked in 1976, when the Hungarian men’s water polo team won the gold medal at the Montreal Olympics that year. Rather than be relegated to the background (like Benedek), Gyarmati is still considered the best Hungarian water polo player of all time.[1] Freedom’s Fury, documentary, 2006.