Imre Pulai (born November 14, 1967 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 ...

) is a Hungarian sprint canoeist, who won two Olympic medals in the Canadian canoeing event, including a gold medal at the

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with teammate Ferenc Novák. As a twenty-year-old, Pulai reached the C-1 1000 m final at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

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, finishing in sixth place. However, it was not until five years later that he won the first of his four

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gold medals - in the C-4 1000 m in

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. In

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, he retained that title and a year later, he was individual world champion, ending

Ivans Klementjevs Ivans Klementjevs (born 18 November 1960 in Burtiki) is a Soviet-born Latvian politician and former sprint canoeist who competed from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. He won three Olympic medals in C-1 1000 m at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Summ ...

's run of five straight victories in

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. That achievement earned him the title of 1995 Hungarian Sportsman of the Year. At the

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, he won the C-1 500 m bronze medal. After Atlanta, his career took another dip until he teamed up with Ferenc Novák in the C-2. In

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, their first season together, the pair were world silver medalists and went on to win the C-2 500 m gold medal at the

in Sydney. When the two were paired up, they became known as "The Monster and the Little Guy" because of the size differential between them (Pulai was 6' 6.5" (1.99 m) and weighed 214 lb (97 kg) while Novák was 5' 8" (1.72 m) and weighed 170 lb (77 kg).). In 2003 Pulai won his fourth world championship gold in the C-4 1000 m at Gainesville, Georgia,

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and he won also his second bronze medal in the C-4 500 m event. Most assumed that would be the final medal of his long career, but in 2006 he made a comeback at the 2006 European Championships, held in Račice, Czech Republic, winning a C-4 500 m bronze medal. At the age of thirty-eight he was the second-oldest male competitor. Pulai is nicknamed "Sumák". In February 2008, Pulai met with the

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to help promote luge in his native

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which Pulai started competing in 2005. At the

FIL European Luge Championships 2010 The FIL European Luge Championships 2010 took place 19 – 24 January 2010 in Sigulda, Latvia for the second time, hosting the event previously in 1996. Festivities The opening ceremonies took place on 22 January 2010 at 19:00 EET. Award ce ...

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, he finished 34th in the men's singles event.

Awards

* Hungarian canoer of the Year (1): 1994 * Hungarian Sportman of the Year (1) - votes of sports journalists: 1995 ;Orders and special awards * HUN Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) Silver BAR

HUN Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) Silver BAR

Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary – Silver Cross (1996) * HUN Order of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) 4class BAR

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary – Officer's Cross (2000)

References

*
Olympic champion in canoeing Imre Pulai tries luge.
at the

Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course The International Luge Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (FIL); German: Internationaler Rennrodelverband) is the main international federation for all luge sports. Founded by 13 nations at Davos, Switzerland in 19 ...

(19 February 2008 article accessed 8 December 2009.) * *
Kataca.hu Profile
* * Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Canoeing: Men's Canadian Pairs 500 Meters". In ''The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition''. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 482.

External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulai, Imre 1967 births Canoeists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Hungarian male canoeists Hungarian male lugers ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in Canadian Living people Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Hungary Olympic canoeists for Hungary Olympic gold medalists for Hungary Olympic medalists in canoeing Canoeists from Budapest 20th-century Hungarian people