Sándor Pósta

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameSándor•Pósta (Gáspár-)
Used nameSándor•Pósta
Born25 September 1888 in Pánd, Pest (HUN)
Died4 November 1952 in Budapest, Budapest (HUN)
AffiliationsMAFC, Budapest (HUN)
NOC Hungary
Medals OG
Gold 1
Silver 1
Bronze 1
Total 3

Biography

Sándor Pósta was born in Pánd but grew up in Baja, before moving to Cluj-Napoca to study medicine, by which time he was already regarded as a talented fencer. He had suffered a serious hip injury during World War I, but was successfully operated on in Wien, and returned to fencing. Pósta then went to Italo Santelli’s Fencing School, and fenced for MAFC, with whom he won the Hungarian Sabre Championship in 1922 and 1924.

At the 1924 Paris Olympics Pósta won a complete set of medals. He won gold in the individual sabre, silver in team sabre, and bronze in the team foil event. Pósta was well-known for disliking publicity. It is said there was no official photograph taken of him fencing, and he never gave interviews, and if the team was being photographed, he hid away. When a journalist knocked at his Paris hotel room asking for an interview after the Olympics he gave the journalist his card, and wrote under his name: “I won the Olympic Championship! This is my statement!”

Pósta graduated from university as a dental surgeon, and in addition to his medical profession, he was also a talented sports journalist and sports cartoon artist. He spoke several languages fluently and consequently worked as a translator and interpreter. He also performed in various theatre plays, and in a very diverse career was for a while the deputy Hungarian Health Commissioner.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1924 Summer Olympics Fencing HUN Sándor Pósta
Foil, Individual, Men (Olympic) DNS
Foil, Team, Men (Olympic) Hungary 3 Bronze
Épée, Individual, Men (Olympic) DNS
Sabre, Individual, Men (Olympic) 1 Gold
Sabre, Team, Men (Olympic) Hungary 2 Silver