Lajos Sipeki-Balás

Lajos Sipeki-Balázs graduated from the Ludovika Militray Academy in 1935. As a professional soldier, he competed in fencing, shooting, archery, swimming, and modern pentathlon in the colors of the Honvéd Tiszti Vívóklub. In 1934 he won a college championship in archery. He finished second in the 1939 Hungarian épée championship and won the team championship three times (1940, 1942, 1943). In modern pentathlon Sipeki-Balázs won the Ludovika Championship in 1935, and then started at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he finished 21st.

In 1944, Sipeki-Balázs graduated as an engineer at the Technical University and after that he was appointed commander of the Technical University Assault Battalion. He was seriously injured during the siege of Budapest. After the war, the People’s Court sentenced him to life imprisonment. He spent seven years in prison, and after his release, worked as an engineer at the Tisza Chemical Combine until 1973, when he retired. He was rehabilitated in 1992.