György Csordás

György Csordás began his competitive sports career in the Cegléd Railway Sports Association. In 1948 Csordás then joined the Hungarian national team as a swimmer for the UTE and participated at the 1948 Olympics. In 1949 he became a competitor for the FTC. He was primarily successful in middle and long-distance swimming and as a member of the Hungarian 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay. In 1951 he set European records in the 400 metres, 1,500 metres, and the freestyle relay. At the 1952 Olympics he was eliminated in the preliminary heats in the 1,500 metres, but reached the semi-finals in the 400 metres, but did not start there due to the freestyle relay.

Csordás had his most significant sporting successes at the 1954 European Championships in Torino, where he won the European Championship in both individual events and swam in the preliminary rounds of the relay with the team later winning the gold medal. During his career he won a total of 15 Hungarian championship titles for which he was declared the “Eternal champion” in 1982. He finished unplaced in all events at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He returned home out of concern for his family but gave up swimming in 1958.

In 1960 Csordás earned a coaching diploma from the Sports Management and Coaching Institute (SEKI). He received a coaching job offer in Colombia, but the Hungarian authorities did not allow him to accept it. He later earned a law degree and worked first at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and then as the chief advisor of the Pest County Public Administration Office.