Ilona Elek, known also as Ilona Elek-Schacherer (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

“Elek"; May 17, 1907 – July 24, 1988) was a Hungarian

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

fencer. Elek won more international fencing titles than any other woman.Ilona Elek
on

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Early and personal life

Elek was born on 17 May 1907 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother.''Memories After My Death: The Story of My Father, Joseph "Tommy" Lapid'' - Yair Lapid
/ref> She had seven siblings, including two-time Olympic fencer

Margit Elek Margit Elek (5 May 1910 – 4 February 1986) was a Hungarian Olympic foil fencer. She was born in Budapest, Hungary, was the sister of Olympic champion Ilona Elek, and was Jewish. She competed in the women's individual foil events at the 1 ...

, and her mother died when she was 11 years old.Ilona Elek-Schacherer Bio, Stats, and Results , Olympics at Sports-Reference.com
/ref> She graduated from a music school.''Век фехтования'' - Валерий Штейнбах
/ref> For six years after Hungary entered World War II on the side of Nazi Germany, even before most of them were sent to concentration camps Hungarian Jews were forbidden from entering fencing competitions, and so Elek and her sister, who was also a half-jew, were unable to compete.

Fencing career

Danÿ Margit & Elek Ilona & Bogen Erna & Elek Margit

Elek competed for Hungary in three Olympiads, winning three medals. She is considered to be one of the greatest female fencers in the history of the sport.

Hungarian National Championships

Elek won the Hungarian

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

championship in 1946–47, 1949–50, and 1952.

World Championships

Elek won the gold medal in women's foil at the World Championships in 1934, 1935, and 1951. She won silver in 1937 and 1954, and bronze in 1955.

Olympics

Elek was the first woman to win two Olympic gold medals in the individual foil competition. Elek's first Olympic competition was at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

in Berlin, Germany, at the age of 29. She won the gold medal in the foil event, the first Hungarian woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics. In the process, Elek, who was Jewish, defeated a German with a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish father,

Helene Mayer Helene Julie Mayer (20 December 1910 – 10 October 1953) was a German-born fencer who won the gold medal at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, and the silver medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. She competed for Nazi Germany in Berlin, despit ...

. The bronze medal went to

Ellen Preis Ellen Müller-Preis, née Preis, (6 May 1912 – 18 November 2007) was German-born Austrian Olympic-champion foil (fencing), foil fencing, fencer. In 1949, she was named Austrian female athlete of the year. Fencing career Preis was born in Ber ...

, an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

Jew. The Games were cancelled in 1940 and 1944. When the Games resumed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, at age 41 she repeated her performance as Olympic champion by winning a gold medal in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

in London, England. It marked the fifth Olympics in a row where a Jewish woman had won the gold medal in foil. Ellen Preis again won the bronze medal.Jewish Athletes
at the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

Elek won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the 1952

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Games. After winning her first five matches in the final pool, she was in contention for the gold medal, but she lost to American Maxine Mitchell, and Italian

Irene Camber Irene Camber or Irene Camber-Corno (born 12 February 1926) is an Italian fencer and Olympic champion in foil competition. Biography Camber was born in Trieste, Italy on 12 February 1926. She began to be interested in fencing at eight years-ol ...

, who won the gold.

Awards

She was later awarded the Robert Feyerick Cup and the

Olympic Order The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest award of the Olympic Movement. It is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. Traditi ...

International Fencing Federation

In 1983, she was the

International Fencing Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

honorary President.''Sport and the Emancipation of European Women: The Struggle for Self-fulfilment''
/ref>

Later years and death

Elek later was a director of a trade company. She died in Budapest at the age of 81.

References

External links

Olympic recordOlympic site bio'36 Olympics photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elek, Ilona 1907 births 1988 deaths Hungarian female foil fencers Olympic fencers of Hungary Fencers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Hungary Olympic silver medalists for Hungary Olympic medalists in fencing Jewish female foil fencers Jewish Hungarian sportspeople Jewish sportswomen Martial artists from Budapest Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics 20th-century Hungarian women