Ján Nagy

When he was 11-years-old Ján Nagy spent a year in hospital with rheumatic fever, with doctors saying he should not compete in sports due to a weak heart. Against the medical advice, Nagy took up weightlifting in his teens and went on to become one of the best in the sport in Czechoslovakia during the 1970s. Throughout the decade he set multiple Czechoslovak records and won five national titles (1973–75, 1977–78).

In 1976 Nagy was selected to compete at the Montréal Olympics in the super-heavyweight class, where he just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth. The Games also acted as the 1976 World Weightlifting Championships, resulting in him winning bronze in the clean & jerk element of his lift with 227.5 kg. That same year Nagy was named as the best weightlifter by the Czechoslovak Weightlifting Association. After his sporting career he lived and worked in Germany for some years before returning to the Czech Republic in 2000.