Tibor Gécsek

Tibor Gécsek medal table
Hammer throw
Hungary
World championships
bronze	1993 Stuttgart	Hammer throw
bronze	1995 Gothenburg	Hammer throw
European championships
silver	1990 split	Hammer throw
gold	1998 Budapest	Hammer throw

Tibor Gécsek (born September 22, 1964 in Szentgotthárd ) is a former Hungarian athlete who belonged to the world class from 1987 to 2002. The 1998 European championship in hammer throw was his greatest success.

Street scene in Szentgotthárd and the monument by Tibor Gécsek

Career until 1995

After a third place at the Hungarian national championships in 1985, he became Hungarian champion for the first time in 1986. Until 1994 he was Hungarian champion every year, in 1999 and 2001 the championship titles ten and eleven followed.

Gécsek made his first appearance at major international championships at the World Championships in Rome in 1987 , with 77.56 m he finished seventh. A year later at the 1988 Olympic Games he threw 78.36 m and placed sixth.

At the European Championships in 1990 in Split he threw 80.14 m four meters shorter than the winner Ihar Astapkowitsch , but won silver with 12 centimeters ahead of the second representative of the Soviet Union, Igor Nikulin . At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, he managed a throw of 78.98 m, placing him fourth behind Jurij Sedych , Ihar Astapkowitsch and Heinz Weis . Gécsek also came fourth the following year at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. At 77.78 m, however, he was around four meters behind the three representatives of the CIS , Andrei Abduwalijew , Astapkowitsch and Nikulin.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, more throwers from the Soviet hammer throwing school competed in international competitions from 1993 onwards, but Gécsek had quite successful years. At the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, six throwers from the old Soviet Union took the first seven places. Abduwalijew won for Tajikistan ahead of Astapkowitsch for Belarus, Gécsek slipped 79.54 meters between the former teammates and won bronze. With the width of Stuttgart, Gécsek would have won bronze at the European Championships in Helsinki in 1994 , behind the Russians Vasily Sidorenko and Astapkowitsch. But Heinz Weis and Igor Nikulin also placed ahead of the Hungarian, who was fifth with 77.62 meters. At the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, at least in terms of the name, the result from Stuttgart 1993 was repeated: Abduwalijew won ahead of Astapkowitsch and Gécsek, who with 80.98 meters up to 70 centimeters beat his Hungarian record from 1988.

On August 30, 1995, Gécsek tested positive in a doping sample in Berlin . For this he was banned in 1996 for a period of four years. Since the IAAF reduced the four-year ban to two years in 1997, Gécsek was able to start again from September 1997.

Career from 1997

After he only managed a moderate distance in 1997 with 77.00 m, he increased his Hungarian record three times in 1998, most recently to 83.68 m. The first record improvement he succeeded in the Népstadion in the final of the European Championships in 1998 in Budapest. With 82.87 m he won gold in front of a Hungarian audience in front of his compatriot Balázs Kiss and the German Karsten Kobs . How much the balance of power in hammer throwing had changed is demonstrated by the fact that there was only one hammer thrower from the former Soviet Union among the top eight in Budapest: the indestructible Astapkovich came in seventh. Gécsek underlined his position as the strongest thrower of the season with a victory at the World Cup in Athletics in Johannesburg.

In 1999 at the World Championships in Seville , Karsten Kobs was the only 80-meter thrower. Gécsek had completed four 80-meter competitions in advance, but in Seville he missed silver by ten centimeters and bronze by eight centimeters with 78.95 m. The best Hungarian was Zsolt Németh in second place . In the 2000 Olympic final in Sydney Gécsek was again the strongest Hungarian, but only finished seventh with 77.70 m. At the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, three Hungarians reached the final with Balázs Kiss, Gécsek and Adrián Annus . Kiss in sixth place, Gécsek with 79.34 m in eighth place and Annus in ninth place were unable to close the medals. Gécsek achieved his last final placement at the European Championships in Munich in 2002 , where he finished sixth with 79.25 m; European champion was Adrián Annus.

General

Gécsek is of Slovenian descent. His parents were born in Rábatótfalu near Szentgotthárd, (German: Windischdorf, Slovenian: Slovenska ves ), a Slovenian village in Hungary. The name Gyécsek is relatively common among the Slovenes.

As a track and field athlete, Gécsek competed for the Dobó SE club in Szombathely . In addition to his hammer throwing career, the 1.85 m tall and, with his competition weight of 107 kg, very fast-growing athlete also competed in lawn power sports .

The trained mechanic later became self-employed as an entrepreneur. On November 10, 2002 he was elected Vice President of the Hungarian Athletics Federation.

literature

• Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 2003. SportsBooks, Cheltenham 2003, ISBN 1-899807-16-0 .

Web links

• Tibor Gécsek in the database of World Athletics (English)

Footnotes

1. ↑ Marija Kozár: Etnološki slovar Slovencev na Madžarskem. = A magyarországi szlovének néprajzi szótára. Zveza Slovencev na Madzarskem / Savaria Múzeum, Monošter / Szombathely 1996, ISBN 963-7206-62-0 .