Géza Csapó

Géza Csapó started as a motorcycle racer but changed sports due to a serious accident. He started kayaking at Szolnoki MTE, although he later continued at SZEOL AK. Between 1971 and 1979, he won a total of 13 national championships in singles and doubles.

In 1969 Csapó started at the European Youth Championships, and a year later won a bronze medal at the World Championships as a member of the 4×500 metre relay team. In 1971, he became World Champion for the first time as a member of the relay team in Beograd. His most successful year was 1973 when he won three events at the World Championships in Tampere (K1-500, K1-1000, and K2-10K with Zoltán Bakó). For this achievement Csapó was chosen as the 1973 Athlete of the Year in Hungary.

In the following years, Csapó won further World individual titles: in 1974 in the K1-1000 and in 1975 in the K1-500, increasing his World Championship total to six. For this, he was referred to worldwide as the “King of Kayak”.

Unfortunately, Csapó did not achieve similar success at the Olympics. In the K1-1000 he won a bronze medal at München in 1972 and a silver medal at Montréal in 1976. He retired from competitive sports in 1980.

Although he graduated from teacher training college, Csapó did not leave kayaking. At the club in Szeged, he first worked as a methodological group leader, and later as a head coach.