Imre Zachár

As a pupil of Zoltán Halmay, Imre Zachár was a swimmer and water polo player with MTK from 1905, before joining MAC and MAFC in 1911. Between 1908-12, Zachár was a member of the Hungarian national team in both sports, and at the 1908 London Olympics, won a silver medal as part of the 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay team. He also competed in the individual 400 metres freestyle, but failed to reach the final. At the 1912 Olympics, he finished fifth with the water polo team, and was again a member of 4 × 200 meter relay team, where they reached the final, but did not compete due to the exhaustion of a colleague, Béla Las-Torres.

Zachár won three Hungarian freestyle titles, at 880 yards in 1907 and 1910, and 100 yards in the second of those years. He retired from competitive swimming in 1914 and pursued his career in banking. When he eventually retired he was a director of the Hungarian Mortgage Bank.

In May 1951, Zachár was declared politically dangerous by the communist system of Mátyás Rákosi, and was moved from Budapest to Jászkisér, where he had to live in a former henhouse. His Budapest apartment was taken from him, and his pension withdrawn. In 1953 he moved to Őrbottyán, and stayed with his brother-in-law, as his ban from living in Budapest was still valid. The only time he subsequently visited the capital was during a period of hospitalisation. He died of heart failure on 7 April 1954, aged 63.