József Várszegi

József Várszegi [ ˈjoːʒɛf ˈvaːrsɛɡi ] (born September 7, 1910 in Győr , † June 12, 1977 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian javelin thrower who was internationally active for around twenty years between the early 1930s and 1950s. He won two bronze medals.

Várszegi made his first appearance in 1933 at the World Student Games in Turin , where he won the gold medal with a width of 64.85 m. In 1937 in Paris he was clearly inferior to the Estonian Friedrich Issak with 67.18 m , who achieved an excellent 70.25 m, but defeated the German Eduard Bartels (65.45 m). In 1939 in Vienna , with a litter over 67.37 m, he was not only able to defeat Issak, who only came third with 66.79 m, but also the German Karl-Heinz Berg (67.29 m). After the war, in Paris in 1947, he was successful for the third time with 66.45 m.

At the first European Championships in Turin in 1934 , he finished fifth with 65.81 m. At the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 he achieved the best distance he qualified with a throw of more than 69 m, but did not go beyond 65.30 m in the final, which meant eighth place. However, his qualification performance would not have earned him a medal, as all three medal winners threw over 70 m.

Várszegi did this two years later at the European Championships in Paris in 1938 . With his personal best of 72.78 m, which he achieved in the last attempt, he was only inferior to the two Finns Matti Järvinen (gold with 76.87 m) and Yrjö Nikkanen (silver with 75.00 m), and won the bronze medal .

After the war, Várszegi performed twice more internationally. He stayed away from the 1946 European Championships in Oslo , but two years later he took part in the 1948 Olympic Games in London . There the almost 38-year-old had luck on his side. First of all, he benefited from the fact that, like before in Oslo, no thrower was able to throw over 70 m. On the other hand, he succeeded in the first attempt with a throw of 67.03 m, which could be described as a lucky throw, since his second best attempt was only a little over 60 m. He gave him his second bronze medal behind the Finn Tapio Rautavaara (gold with 69.77 m) and the American Steve Seymour (silver with 67.56 m). The Finn Pauli Vesterinen , who landed three throws beyond the 65-m mark, was left empty-handed.

The final point behind his long career set Várszegi at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 , where he came in 23rd place with 56.82 m under 26 participants.

Nothing is known about Várszegi's results at the Hungarian national championships.

Web links

• József Várszegi in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )