Alfréd Hajós
Hajós in Athens 1896
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alfréd Hajós-Guttmann |
| Nationality |
 Hungarian
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| Born |
1 February 1878.svg){kind=small} Budapest, Austro-Hungarian Empire
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| Died | 12 November 1955 (aged 77) Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic
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| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Freestyle |
| Club | Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre |
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Medal record
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Alfréd Hajós (1 February 1878 – 12 November 1955) was a Hungarian swimmer and architect. He was the first modern Olympic swimming champion and the first Olympic champion of Hungary. No other swimmer ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games.
Hajós was born in Budapest, Hungary, as Arnold Guttmann. He was 13 years old when he felt compelled to become a good swimmer after his father drowned in the Danube River. He took the name Hajós (sailor in Hungarian) for his athletic career because it was a Hungarian name.
In 1896, Hajós was an architecture student in Hungary when the Athens Games took place. He was allowed to compete, but permission from the university to miss class was difficult to obtain. When he returned to the Dean of the Polytechnical University, the dean did not congratulate Hajós on his Olympic success, but instead said: "Your medals are of no interest to me, but I am eager to hear your replies in your next examination."
At the 1896 Games, the swimming events were held in the Mediterranean Sea battling the elements. The 18-year-old Hajós won his two gold medals in extremely cold weather (the water temperature was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, or 13 degrees Celsius) with 12-foot (4 m) waves crashing down on him. He won the 100 metre freestyle with a time of 1:22.2, and the 1,200 metre freestyle in 18:22.1. Hajós wanted to win all three distances, but the 500 metre freestyle was immediately after the 100 and immediately before the 1,200. Before the 1,200 metre race, he smeared his body with a half-inch (one centimetre) thick layer of grease, but it proved to be of little protection against the cold. He confessed after winning the race that, "My will to live completely overcame my desire to win." While at a dinner honoring Olympic winners, the Crown Prince of Greece asked Hajós where he had learned to swim so well. Hajós replied, "In the water." The next morning, the Athenian journal Acropolis depicted Alfréd with the subtitle: "Hungarian Dolphin". He was the youngest winner in Athens.
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