Ferenc Németh tried numerous sports in his youth, but originally settled on football before becoming interested in pentathlon in the mid-1950s. By 1955 he was a member of the national team and two years later he represented Hungary at the Junior World Championships, while coming seventh individually at the senior national championships. In 1958 he was third at the national championships, while in 1959 he was fifth individually, but won the team title. He had missed the 1959 World Championships due to injury, but he was in full form at the 1960 Rome Olympics, when he won the individual competition, which in turn helped the Hungarians take gold as a team. The nation then selected him to be the flagbearer at the closing ceremony. Earlier that year, he had won silver at the nationals in the team event.
By 1960 Németh was already suffering from a virus that would end his competitive career in 1963. In the interim, however, he won another national team title in 1961, but was forced to withdraw from that year’s World Championships. That year he began coaching work at the school level, while after his official retirement he became Secretary General of the Hungarian Pentathlon Association. Afterwards, he coached at Csepel SC for the remainder of his career, although he had a stint coaching in Kuwait from 1987 through 1990. His son Zsolt was fourth with the Hungarian foil fencing team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Hungary