Personal information | |||||||||||||
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Born |
Szeged, Hungary |
6 April 1932 ||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||
Sport | Fencing | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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Dániel Magay (born April 6, 1932 in Szeged, Hungary), is an Olympic and World Championship Gold Medal saber fencer.
After completing high school studies at the Piarista Gimnazium, Magay studied with the Italian fencing master Eduardo Armentano, who had come to Hungary as part of the national effort to learn from fencing masters from other countries with the best fencing programs, dating back to Luigi Barbasetti and Italo Santelli.
Once he had learned the basics, he then studied with the renowned Fencing Master Ferenc Marki in Szeged in order to discipline, refine, and raise his saber technique to the highest level.
Magay’s great fencing talent, sharpened by Maestro Marki’s knowledge and guidance, resulted in his rapid rise to the top of local fencing competitions, bringing him to the notice of those who chose the best fencers in the land to represent the country. He was repeatedly chosen to be a member of the Hungarian National Saber Team from 1953 to 1956.
In 1953, he introduced himself to world class saber fencing at the International World Championship Competition in Brussels.
By 1954, Magay had won a Gold Medal for first place saber team at the 1954 World Championship.
In 1955, his skill had elevated to the point that at a major competition he beat Hungary’s best saber champion Rudolf Karpathy 5:0 and Karpathy’s coach Maestro Alfred Gellert congratulated Maestro Ferenc Marki by stating "Now, I can proudly say that I was your fencing master at one time."
As a member of the Hungarian National Olympic Saber Team Fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, Magay won Olympic Gold for his country by taking first place in the Saber Team competition.
During this time, the invasion of Hungary and seizure control by Communist Russia forced many Hungarian Olympians to make the tough decision to not return home. Magay decided to immigrate to the Pacific Coast of the United States with his Hungarian Olympic saber team coach, and prior Olympian, György Piller. (Cohen 2002:402-403).
In 1957, Maestro Piller, Magay, and other Hungarian fencers founded Pannonia Athletic Club in San Francisco for teaching and learning the art of fencing.