Pál Kovács

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Image of the grave of Pál Kovács

Pál Ádám Kovács [ ˈpaːl ˈaːdaːm ˈkovaːʧ ] (born July 17, 1912 in Debrecen , † July 8, 1995 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian saber fencer.

At the beginning of his sporting career, Kovács was active as a high jumper, but then switched to fencing.

Pál Kovács first took part in the Olympic Games in 1936 and won his first Olympic gold medal with the Hungarian saber fencer team. He repeated this success with the team in 1948 , 1952 , 1956 and 1960 .

In the individual competition he won bronze in 1948 and gold in 1952. With six Olympic gold medals, Kovács is one of the most successful athletes in Olympic history. As with his teammate Aladár Gerevich , Kovács' long streak of success is all the more astonishing when the Olympic Games were canceled in 1940 and 1944 because of the Second World War.

Kovács was also seven-time world champion with the team, in 1937 and 1953 he won the title in the individual competition, in 1951 and 1954 he was second.

After his career he was President of the Hungarian Fencing Federation, later Vice President of the International Fencing Federation ( FIE ).

His son Attila Kovács (1939-2010) was a member of the Hungarian saber fencing team at the 1964 Olympic Games. This team was unable to continue the long series of successes in team competition after the resignation of Aladár Gerevich, Rudolf Kárpáti and Pál Kovács. His second son Tamás Kovács (* 1943) won bronze in team competitions at the Olympic Games in 1968 and 1972 . In 1972 Pál Gerevich , Aladár's son, was part of the Hungarian team.

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Commons : Pál Kovács  - collection of images
personal data
SURNAME Kovács, Pál
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kovács, Pál Ádám (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian saber fencer and Olympic champion
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Debrecen
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 1995
Place of death Budapest