Antal Bolvári

Antal Bolvári started his sports career as a swimmer, setting multiple Hungarian records as a youth. At the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1951, he won silver in both the 200- and 400-metre backstrokes and was also the member of the gold medal winning Hungarian water polo team, thus achieving his greatest success as a water polo player. Between 1952 and 1956, he competed for Budapest Honvéd and was a member of the Olympic winning team at Helsinki and Melbourne. He also helped win the European Championship in 1954. At the 1952 Olympics, Bolvári played in six games, scoring one goal. Four years later, at the Melbourne Olympics, he played in four matches and scored two goals, including one in the infamous “Blood in the Water” match against the USSR, in the championship round, held only a few weeks after the Soviets had put down the 1956 Hungarian revolution.

Bolvári came home from the Melbourne Olympics but later returned to Australia to his bride. He played in Perth and Melbourne and then returned to Hungary in 1961. After coming home, he played for Vasas, Bp. Spartacus, and FTC, winning a national title with FTC.

After completing his athletic career in 1969, Bolvári worked as a trainer first with Bp. Spartacus and then with Honvéd and Hungary’s junior squad. In 1980, Mihály Mayer became the national coach, and asked Bolvári to be his assistant. From 1979-88, Bolvári was head coach of Bp. Honvéd, and then, until 1992, he again worked for Bp. Spartacus, leading them to the final of the 1988 LEN Winners’ Cup.

Bolvári was also an officer in the Hungarian army, dedicated to sports. At the 50-year jubilee celebration of the Helsinki Olympics, Bolvári carried the Hungarian flag at the reenactment of the Opening Ceremony.