Dezső Gyarmati

Desző Gyarmati is often considered the greatest water poloist of all-time. His feat of winning water polo medals at five successive Olympic Games (gold 1952, 1956, 1964; silver 1948; bronze 1960) has never been matched. He also captained winning Hungarian teams at the 1954 and 1962 European Championships. An excellent swimmer with a best time of 58.5 seconds for 100 metres (quite fast in that era), Gyarmati was called the “world’s fastest water polo player.” He was ambidextrous and could also play either back or forward. Gyarmati was considered a Hungarian national hero. He coached the Hungarian team that won the Olympic title in 1976, and also won medals in 1972 and 1980, and later became a member of Parliament. He married the 1952 Olympic 200 metres breaststroke champion Eva Székely. Their daughter, Andrea, was an Olympic silver medalist in the 100 metres backstroke in 1972 and she later married Mihály Hesz, the 1968 Olympic canoeing champion. Desző Gyarmati was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1976.