Magyar News, 2001. szeptember-2002. augusztus (12. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2002-04-01 / 8. szám
í# 'o r\r^r\ *£ yOÖ' Hungary is not known to be the best terrain for winter sports. Within limits some people always challenged the impossible. In the Budapest area there are some elevations that rank between a little mountain and a hill, but they have some skating rinks for ice skating. Up north in the Matra mountains it was possible to do daring things. Despite all this the spirit of sport lives in the Hungarian soul. It is a big accomplishment to be accepted to the Olympic games. To participate one has to reach and prove a high level of competence. Among the 24 members of the Hungarian Olympic Team there were National Champions and many with international competition experience. At times I think of the way the athletes win their medals or receive a spot on the list ranking from gold medal to 70th, or even more, place. Watching TV, hearing the exciting voice of the announcer and the roar of the audience, one would think that the winner was long minutes ahead of the others. Then reality hits you; the winner was six hundredth of a second faster! I can’t even blink that fast. One starts questioning how many seconds, if any, are there between the first and the last competitor. We are very proud that the Hungarians competed in the Winter Olympics. To be able to qualify for the games shows that we hold a distinctive place among the athletes of all nations. Prior to setting off, the contingent was handed the winter games’ flag, along with warm good wishes, by US Ambassador to Hungary Nancy Goodman Brinker. Brinker said the US Government had done all it could to ensure the safety of the participants, adding that this would most probably be the tightest security ever for an Olympics. The Hungarian members were Mátyás Holló (Nordic skiing) and Zoltán Tóth (men’s singles skater). Ildikó Strehli and Éva Kürti (women’s bobsled doubles-13), Péter Vincze (men’s slalom and giant slalom), Márta Regős Vastagh (Women’s slalom and giant slalom), Imre Tagscherer (men’s biathlon and Nordic skiing), Zsuzsa Bekecs and Ivett Szöllősi (women’s biathlon), Zsófia Gottschall (women’s Nordic skiing), Nicholas Frankl, Márton Gyulai, Péter Pallai, Bertalan Pintér and Zsolt Zsombor (bobsled fours-23), Júlia Sebestyén (women’s singles figure skating-8), Krisztina Egyed (women’s speed skating, 1500-23, 1000m-24, 500m-27), Zsolt Baló (men’s speed skating, 1500-30, 1000m-31, 500m-31), Balázs Knoch, Krisztián Szabó and Kornél Szántó (short track (1,500m) speed skating), Nagy Mariann, Éva Farkas and Szandra Lajtos (women’s short track speed skating). Hungary is one of only 12 countries to have competed in all 19 Winter Olympic Games (since 1924) and this year’s Magyar contingent was one of the biggest yet. The country has never won a gold in the Winter Olympics, but it does hold two silvers (obtained in 1948 and 1980) and four bronze medals (picked up in 1932, 1936, 1952 and 1980). Unfortunately bad weather played a role in success. This hurt many of the women skiers. The extremely difficult track that had 650 feet in height between the starting point and the finish line, also specked with 55 gates in a strong ziggzagg pattem on the day of the women’s slalom was buried in heavy snowfall and slush. One third of the strongest athletes lost because of this. Marta Regős Vastag wasn’t spared either. Despite her fall during the snowfall she got herself together and went back to the gate where she missed, to finish the track disregarding the loss of time. The American hopeful, Kristina Koznick wasn’t spared from this misfortune. Marta Regős Vastag is of special interest to us. With dual citizenship 1. Ambassador Brinker with the contingent. 2. Marta Regös Vastag on the slope. 3. Ildikó Strehli and Eya Kürti with their bobsled. .7 t.k . 4. Julia Sebestyen on the ice. she is American and Hungarian. 19 years old and she receives her education at Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont. The school’s speciality is ski training. For the summer students are taken to Chile for ski camp. She in 1999 was 2376 on the world rank and in just a year she moved ahead to 1029. We don’t have these past two years data. Marta’s ski training is supported by the parents who live in Virginia. We have seen American Hungarians who establish business connections in Hungary and with this expand their business. Marta and her family without anyspecial gain make their sacrifice to help the fame of the Hungarian people. We thank Budapest Sun, MTI, Magyar Hirlap for the materials we used.
