György Kolonics
György Kolonics [ ˈɟørɟ ˈkolonitʃ ] (born June 24, 1972 in Budapest ; † July 15, 2008 there ) was a Hungarian canoeist . He was a two-time Olympic champion in canoe racing .
Kolonics became Olympic champion in the two-man canoe at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and repeated this success four years later at the Olympic Games in Sydney in the one-canoe . In 2004 he won bronze in a two-man over 1000 m in Athens .
In addition, he achieved a total of 15 world championship titles between 1993 and 2007, making him one of the world's most successful athletes in the Canadian discipline. He contested his most successful world championships in 1995 , when he won a total of five world championships in the two and four-man Canadians . Most recently he won the gold medal over 500 m with his long-time partner György Kozmann at the Canoe Racing World Championships 2007 in Duisburg .
Kolonics had already qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing , where he and Kozmann were two of the favorites and was designated as the flag bearer of the Hungarian Olympic team.
He died while exercising, presumably from cardiac arrest .
In 2010 the asteroid (175281) Kolonics was named after him.
Web links
- György Kolonics in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kolonics, György |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Hungarian canoeists |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 24, 1972 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Budapest |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 15, 2008 |
| Place of death | Budapest |