Viktor Zsuffka

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameViktor Péter•Zsuffka
Used nameViktor•Zsuffka
Nick/petnamesZsuzsi
Other namesVictor P. Zsuffka
Born9 July 1910 in Moldova Nouă, Caraș-Severin (ROU)
Died20 June 2001 in San Francisco, California (USA)
Measurements185 cm / 78 kg
AffiliationsMAC, Budapest (HUN)
NOC Hungary

Biography

Between 1927 and 1945, Viktor Zsuffka was a member of Magyar Athletic Club. In 1931 he finished second both in decathlon and pole vault at the national championship. He later focused mainly on pole vault and won the Hungarian championship eight times between 1934 and 1942 and improved the Hungarian record five times. Between 1929 and 1941 Zsuffka was capped 27 times. He finished fourth at the European Championships in 1934 and in a tie for sixth at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Zsuffka completed a law and sports education course in Budapest. After World War II, as the former head of department of the National Bank of Hungary, he was classified as anti-regime and had to work in blue-collar jobs for years. After the fall of the 1956 revolution, he left for America and worked first in a paper mill in Florida and then as a lawyer at Pan Am in San Francisco. He was one of the initiators of the Magyar Athletic Club meetings, when the former Magyar Athletic Club members first met abroad and later in Hungary every year.

Personal Best: PV – 4.10 (1940).

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1936 Summer Olympics Athletics HUN Viktor Zsuffka
Pole Vault, Men (Olympic) =6