London 2012 saw Hungary repeat its historic Olympic excellence

London 2012 saw Hungary repeat its historic Olympic excellence. Some have called Hungary's 2012 Olympic performance a "miracle," but in reality, the miracle has been Hungary's historic performance since 1896. As seen below, Hungary's 17 medals and incredible 8th ranking in total Gold in London is exemplary of where Hungary has been for the last century! Hungary ranked 5th in Gold per Capita!

As we celebrate the Spirit of the Games and the success of Hungary and all the Olympic athletes and express our gratitiude for their excellence and to their families who have sacrificed so much, we also also take the opportunity to congratulate Hungarian-Americans Rebecca Soni (Sőni) (2 Gold and Silver with 2 World Records) and Susan (Zsuzsanna) Francia (Gold), and Julie Zetlin, (the United States’ only representative forRhythmic gymnastics and the first and only rhythmic gymnast to qualify from the United States since 2004) on their fantastic London 2012 performances for the United States!

Hungary's Historic Rankings:

As of 2012, Hungary Ranks 8th in Gold Medals!More than Russia, Australia and Japan!

Olympic Medals Table by Gold Medals
[for full medal count, see Wikipedia]

As of 2012, Hungary Ranks 8th Overall! More than China, more than Russia!

Olympic Medals Table by Overall Medals
[for full medal count, see Wikipedia]

How did Hungary rank by population?
[See the Huffington Post's Interactive 2012 Olympic Medal Count Map] See Medal Totals By Country, Population, and Wealth!

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad or "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.

London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2005 during the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, defeating Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris after four rounds of voting. The successful bid was headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe.

The Olympics prompted a redevelopment of many of the areas of London in which the games are to be held – particularly themed towards sustainability. While the budgetary considerations have generated some criticism, the Games will make use of many venues which were already in place before the bid, including Wembley Stadium, Wembley Arena, Wimbledon All England Club, Lord's Cricket Ground, The O2 Arena, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, and the Excel Centre.

London 2012 saw Hungary repeat its historic Olympic excellence

2012 London Official Medal Count [jump to summary]

Gold - 8 (11)

Silver - 4 (5)

Bronze - 5

Hungary finished the 2012 London Olympics with 17 official Medals (8 Gold, 4 Silver, 5 Bronze) and Ranked #8 in total Gold Medals (and 9th overall)! 5th in Gold per Capita!

(Not including medals by Hungarians competing for other countries)

All London 2012 Hungarian Medals: 21!

(including Hungarians competing for other countries)

Medal
Name
Event

Krisztian Pars
Hammer Throw

Krisztian Berki
Gymnastics: Pommel Horse

Aron Szilagyi
Men's Sabre

Daniel Gyurta
Swimming: 200m Breaststroke WR!

Eva Risztov
Swimming: Women's 10K Open Water Marathon

Rebecca Soni (Szőnyi)
Swimming: 200m Breaststroke  WR!

Rebecca Soni (Szőnyi)
Swimming: 4x100m Relay  WR!

Susan (Zsuzsanna) Francia
Women's Rowing 8 

Krisztina Fazekas
Women's Kayak Fours: K4 500m

Katalin Kovacs
Women's Kayak Fours: K4 500m

Gabriella Szabo
Women's Kayak Fours: K4 500m

Danuta Kozak
Women's Kayak Fours: K4 500m

Danuta Kozak
Women's Kayak Single: K1 500m

Rudolf Dombi
Men's Kayak Doubles: K2 1000m

Roland Kokeny
Men's Kayak Doubles: K2 1000m

Rebecca Soni (Szőnyi)
Swimming: 100m Breaststroke 

Zoltan Kammerer
Men's Kayak Fours: K4 1000m

Tamas Kulifai
Men's Kayak Fours: K4 1000m

Daniel Pauman
Men's Kayak Fours: K4 1000m

David Toth
Men's Kayak Fours: K4 1000m

Natasa Janics
Women's Kayak Doubles: K2 500m

Katalin Kovacs
Women's Kayak Doubles: K2 500m

Miklos Ungvari
Men's Judo - 66Kg

Tamas Lorincz
Wrestling: 66kg Greco-Roman

Eva Csernowiczki
Women's Judo

Laszlo Cseh
Swimming: 200m individual

Peter Modos
Wrestling: 55kg Greco-Roman

Natasa Janics
Women's Kayak Single: K1 200m

Adam Marosi
Modern Pentathlon

Medals and More News:

• Canoe / Kayak (Hungarians dominate London 2012 with an astounding 6 Medal: 3 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze!):
  • GOLD! In the men's Kayak Double (K2) 1000m!The team of Rudolf Dombi and Roland Kokeny representing Hungary took Gold with Portugal coming in for silver very close behind! While ethnic-Hungarian Peter Gelle, representing Slovakia in the finals finished last with teammate Erik Vlcek.
  • GOLD! The women's K4 500m team of Katalin Kovacs, Gabriella Szabo, Danuta Kozak, and Krisztina Fazekas beat rivals Germany in front of 20,000 roaring fans on August 8th! Danuta Kozak wins two Gold medals and Katalin Kovacs wins 3 medals!
    • More from Reuters: "The Hungarian national anthem reverberated around the Dorney Lake course on Wednesday as Hungary took the early honors against its fierce rival Germany in the Olympic canoe regatta. Hungary, which alongside Germany has dominated the flatwater disciplines at recent Games, powered to gold in the men's K2 while the women's K4 won the final race of the day to deny Germany its fifth straight Olympic title. Germany, which had started the first day of the Olympic canoe finals as favourite for at least two of the four events, won one gold, one silver and two bronzes. "I cannot tell you how happy I am," a beaming Katalin Kovacs from the women's Hungarian K4 told reporters on the side of the lake after finally winning gold in the event to go with three Olympic silvers. Kovacs won gold medals in K2 in Athens and Beijing. [read more]
  • Gold in the women's Kayak Single (K1) 500m, for Danuta Kozak who posted the fastest qualifying time to reach the finals.
  • Silver for the women's Kayak Double (K2) 500m, for Hungary's duo of Katalin Kovacs and Natasa Janics who had posted the second-best time in qualifying.
  • Silver for the men's Kayak Fours (K4) 1000m!
    Olympic kayak legend and multiple Gold Medalist Zoltan Kammerer and his Hungarian team (David Toth, Tamas Kulifai, and Daniel Pauman) won Silver on August 9th with a time of 2:55.699, just behind the winners, Australia, who posted a time of 2:55.085. They had qualified for the final with the fastest time. Slovakia, featuring Hungarians Juraj (György) Tarr and Peter Gelle, came in 6th and did not medal. Czech Republic claimed the Bronze.
    
    
    • It's the 4th Olympic Medal for Zoltan Kammerer! He started competing in the 1990's and won three Gold Medals at the World Championships, the first in 1997. Since then, he has competed in four previous Summer Olympics and won three gold medals (K-2 500 m: 2000, K-4 1000 m: 2000, and 2004). At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Kammerer carried the Hungarian flag at the opening ceremonies. This was initially planned to be given to his fellow canoer György Kolonics who had died a month before the Games.
  • Bronze Medal for Natasa Janics in the women's Kayak Single (K1) 200m. Natasa was the top qualifier for the finals and won THREE MEDALS (Gold Silver, and Bronze!)
• Wrestling (Silver and Bronze!):
  • Tamás Lőrincz wins Sliver in the Men's 66kg Greco-Roman! His opponent, Kim Hyeonwoo, whose eye was badly bruised and swollen, became the first Republic of Korea athlete to win gold in the lightweight event.
  • Peter Modos wins Bronze in the 55-kg bronze medal match in Greco-Roman wrestling. He was so excited by his unexpected victory, Luke Meredith from the Associated Press tweeted: "Hungarian wrestler Peter Modos certainly isn't sneezing at a bronze medal. After beating Denmark's Erik Nybloom to win a bronze out of the 55-kilogram consolation bracket, Modos ran over and jumped so high into his coach's arms that his torso nearly smacked his coach's shoulder. Modos then ran across the mat and did a cartwheel, which he followed with a succession of backflips. He also hugged Nybloom, who understandably wasn't all that into it."
• Krisztian Pars claims Hammerthrow Gold!
  Hungary's Krisztian Pars produced a best effort of 80.59m to claim gold in the men's Hammer Throw competition on August 5th! Pars, 30, won gold in the European Championships last month and won European bronze in 2010 and a silver in the World Championship. Pars placed fourth at Beijing four years ago, but was promoted to second place when the two Belarusian throwers who finished in front of him were disqualified for failing doping controls. More than 18 months later, Pars and Murofushi, who had been elevated to silver and bronze medal positions, lost their medals when the Court of Arbitration for Sport reinstated Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan’s results from Beijing. The CAS said the doping tests were invalid because international laboratory standards were not respected in what it said was an “unusually complex doping case.”“This is a revenge for what happened at the Beijing Olympics,” Pars said. “Yes, it is a bit of a compensation for the silver I didn’t receive there. I feel life has given something back to me, something which eluded me four years ago.”
  
  
• Artistic Gymnastics: Krisztian Berki takes Pommel Horse Gold!
  Hungarian double world champion Krisztian Berki broke British hearts as he dramatically snatched the Olympic pommel horse gold medal on August 5th and edged out Louis Smith on a tie-break with the execution score. His routine was greeted by "big contingent of flag-waving Hungarian fans."
  
  
• Fencing: Szilagyi claims Hungary's first gold of 2012!
  Hungary's incredible Olympic Games record in men's Sabre Fencing continued as 22-year-old Aron Szilagyi grabbed their first gold of London 2012. It was the 13th time a Hungarian has triumphed in the event - and that includes an amazing run of 11 out of 12 victories between 1908and 1964. Szilagyi is the only Hungarian fencer in the world's top 50 - he is ranked sixth - and was the country's only representative in the 36-strong field.
  
  
• Swimming: Hungarians Set THREE WORLD RECORDS!
  • Daniel Gyurta claims gold in record time! Hungary's Daniel Gyurta set a new world record in the men's 200m Breaststroke final to hold off Japan's Double Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima and Great Britain's Michael Jamieson for the gold medal.
  • Hungarian-American Rebecca Soni claims her 6th Olympic Medal (Winning 2 Gold and 1 Silver) and smashes her own World Record! Hungarian-American Rebecca Soni (Sőni) won Gold and broker her own World Record in the 200m Breaststroke. She also took Gold in the Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay (as she and the US team set another World Record) and Silver in the 100m Breaststroke!
    • In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Soni won gold and set the World Record and also took home 2 Silver Medals in the 100m breaststroke and the 4x100m medley relay. Known to her family and friends as “Reb” and born in Freehold Borough, New Jersey, Rebecca is the daughter of Peter and Kinga Sőni from Kolozsvár (now a part of Rumania after annexation at the tragic Treaty of Trianon in 1920)! AHF CONGRATULATED REBECCA on behalf of the community!
  • Gold for Eva Risztov!
    In an unexpected surprise, Eva Risztov secured the gruelling Marathon swim title winning Gold in the women's 10km Marathon open water swim. USA's Haley Anderson finished second to claim silver, with Italy's Martina Grimaldi taking bronze. Risztov has won multiple Silver medals in the World Championships and is European and Hungarian champion holding the European record in the 800m.
    
    
    • MTI: "A hódmezővásárhelyi, 1985-ös születésű Risztov Éva korábban medencés úszó volt, és három világbajnoki ezüstig (2003, Barcelona: 200 pillangó, 400 gyors, 400 vegyes), valamint 6 Eb-ezüstig jutott. Rövid pályán (25 méteren) hatszoros Európa-bajnok, hétszeres ifi Eb-győztes, 57-szeres felnőtt magyar bajnok. 400 és 1500 gyorson országos csúcsot tartott, 800-on pedig Európa-csúcsot."
    • In related news, Canada’s Zsofia Balazs earned Canada's first ever Olympic nomination in marathon swimming and finished 18th, some 4 minutes behind the winner.
  • Laszlo Cseh takes bronze behind Ryan Lochte who took Silver and the legendary Michael Phelps who won the men's 200m individual Gold Medal - his record setting 16th Gold! Phelps became the first man in Olympic history to win Gold in the same event in three Olympics!
• Judo: Hungarians take silver and bronze!
  • Lashas Shavdatuashvili claimed gold in the men's -66kg Judo competition for Georgia with a narrow win over Hungarian Miklos Ungvari.
  • Eva Csernowiczki takes Bronze in the women's competition beating two-time world silver medallist Tomoko Fukumi.
• Rowing: Susan (Zsuzsanna) Francia claims second consecutive Gold in Women's Rowing 8 for the United States!
  • She won her first gold in Beijing 2008 and won Gold Medals in 5 out of 6 consecutive Rowing World Championships and claimed 2 more consecutive Gold Medals in the World Cup. Susan was born November 8, 1982 in Szeged, Hungary. She moved to the US at the age of 6 and grew up in Abington, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 with a degree in Criminology and Sociology. She currently resides in Princeton, New Jersey and is affiliated with the US Rowing Training Center. She is fluent in Hungarian.
• Modern Pentahlon: Bronze Medal for: Hungary's former world champion Adam Marosiat the 100th Anniversary of the event invented by the founder of the modern Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Adam finished only 90 points behind the winner, David Svoboda of the Czech Republic who set an Olympic Record.

Miscelleaneous News:

• Olympic Record for Sarolta Kovacs also reached the finals for Hungary in the swimming portion of the women's Modern Pentathlon competition. Her compatriot, Adrienn Toth, had taken an early lead in the race for the last gold medal of the London Games. The two fastest swimmers both broke the previous Olympic record of 2:08.86. Kovacs set a new record of 2:08.11 while Britain's Samantha Murray clocked 2:08.20. With points from both the fencing and the swimming aggregated, Toth led the field with 2,132 points, followed by Yane Marques of Brazil with 2,116 points and Murray in third place with 2,096 points. Kovacs, who performed poorly in the fencing, would finish in 33rd place overall despite her record-breaking swim. Adrienne finished 20th.
• Jozef (József) Gönci, who won independent Slovakia's first ever Olympic Medal in Atlanta 1994 (a bronze) and won another bronze in Athens 2004, was Slovakia's Flag Bearer in London 2012.
• Attila Vajda finished 6th in the Canoe Single (C1) 200m. Attila Vajda has competed since the early 2000s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he has won two medals in the C-1 1000m event with a gold in 2008 and a bronze in 2004. In the men’s C1 1000m for 2012, the man to beat was Hungary’s Olympic champion Attila Vajda but he finished 6th, 3 seconds behind the Gold medalist, 24-year-old Sebastian Brendel of Germany. After winning gold at Beijing 2008, Vajda, the 29-year-old was named the Hungarian sportsman of the year after winning the World Championships last year. Despite the 6th-place shwoing, Attila had qualified for the finals posting the second best time.
• Rythmic Gymnastics: Hungarian-American Julie Ashley Zetlin competed in the Rythmic Gymnastics competition. Julie is the United States’ only representative for Rhythmic gymnastics and the first and only rhythmic gymnast to qualify from the United States since 2004. After a truly beautiful start, 20 seconds into her 80-second routine, the hoop slipped from her grasp and she failed to qualify. Julie is the 2010 U.S. Senior National Champion in Rhythmic Gymnastics. In February 2012, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) awarded Zetlin a wild-card berth to compete at the 2012 Summer Games in London. Her mother Zsuzsi is a former Hungarian national champion in the sport. [Watch her routine]
• Olympic Diving: Noemi Batki reached the Finals, finishing 8th in the women's 10m Platform competition. She is a Hungarian-born member of the Italian National Diving Team. She was born in Budapest, Hungary, and at the age of 3 she moved to Belluno, Italy, with her mother, Ibolya Nagy, a Hungarian platform diver who took part at Olympic Games in 1992 in Barcelona.
• Miklos Dudas finished 6th the finals of the Men's Kayak Single (K1) 200m. In a tight race, he fiished only 1/2 second off the winner Ed McKeever of the UK.
• Hungary Handball loses 33-26 in the Bronze Medal match against Croatia. Hungary lost 27-26 in a nail-biter to Sweden in the semi-final match on Friday, August 10th. Hungary beat Iceland 34-33 in extra-time to reach the semi-finals and sent the Beijing silver medallists home. Iceland missed a penalty in the last few minutes of normal time that would have won the match. Afterwards the Hungary team celebrated by dancing around one of their coaches. Watch the full match replay via BBC Sport's interactive video player.
• Gabor Hatos lost in the Bronze medal match in the Men's 74kg Freestyle Wrestling event. It would have been be Hungary's third Olympic Wrestling Medal of 2012.
• Tamas Kovacs represented Hungary in the Finals of the Marathon, on Sunday, August 12th. Tamas finihsed 72nd in a time of 2:27:48. He is High Point University's second-ever Olympian following Taylor Milne in 2008. Kovacs went through the halfway mark in 1:09:13 and was 5:58 behind the leader at that point. He improved from 82nd halfway through the race to 72nd at the finish in warm and humid conditions. Twenty runners dropped out of the race. Kovacs qualified for the Olympics by running a career-best time of 2:14:23 to win the marathon in Reggio Emilia, Italy last December. Kovacs won Hungarian championships in the 5,000-meter in 2010 and the half marathon and cross country in 2011. He has run under 64 minutes twice in the half marathon.
• Water Polo: Hungary Men beat Spain for Fifth Place:
  • Men's Team Hungary, who have won water polo gold at the last four Olympic games, were knocked out of medal contention in London 2012. In search of their 10th gold medal in total, they were beaten 11-9 by Italy at the quarter-final stage. Hungary defeated Australia 10-9 to set up a clash with Spain for fifth place on Sunday, while Australia palyed the United States for seventh place. Hungary won 14-8.
  • Despite reaching the finals, the Hungarian Women's Water Polo lost to Australia in the Bronze Medal match 13-11. The women's team reached the semi-finals by beating a strong Russian team 11-10 in another thrilling encounter, but lost to Spain in another close match. The women have never made it to the podium in the event's 12-year existence, narrowly missing out on the bronze in 2008. Team USA beat Spain to claim Gold in the championship match.

- Read more on [Wikipedia]

- Search all 2012 medalists (magyarul / in Hungarian)