Szilveszter Csollány

Szilveszter Csollány started gymnastics at the age of six in Győr. In 1986, he moved to Budapest, where he competed with Újpest Dózsa. His first major success was the fifth place on the rings and pommelled horse at the 1986 European Youth Championships.

Csollány achieved his most significant results on the rings. His first international podium position was the third place at the 1990 European Championships. He finished sixth on the rings at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, seventh in horse vault, ninth in both the individual all-around and in the team competition. He won a silver medal on the rings at the World Cup and a bronze at the European Championships. He finished third at the 1994 European Championships. In 1996, he was second both at the World Championships and the Atlanta Olympics.

In 1995, he moved to the United States and worked as a coach in St. Louis and Sacramento. He was second on the rings at the 1997 World Championships again. He returned to Hungary in 1997. The following year, he finally won the gold medal at the European Championships as well as the World Cup final. He won a silver medal both at the 1999 World – and in 2000 at the European Championships again. His biggest rival was Italian Jury Checci for his whole career. In 2000, Csollány won Olympic Gold on rings in Sydney after Checci had retired. In 2001, he finished second again at the Worlds. The next year he won a bronze medal at the European Championships and a World Championships gold medal in Debrecen, Hungary, thus finishing his active career.

Csollány was an 11-time national champion in individual events and a four-time gold medallist in team events. He was named „Gymnast of the Year” in Hungary seven times, and „Athlete of the Year” in 2000 and 2002. In 2009, he was elected to the Hall of Fame of Hungarian gymnastics.

Parallel to his active sports career, he trained coaching at the Collage of Physical Education in 1992 and since February 2001, he had been a student of the Budapest Institute of Media at the József Attila University. From 2007, he worked as the coach of Soproni TC and then founded his own gymnastics school in his home city. From 2011, he worked abroad as a coach, first in Iceland and then in Switzerland and Austria. He was hospitalized with COVID-19 infection in December 2021, had been on a ventilator for more than a month when finally, his body gave up the fight on 24 January 2022.