István Gyulai (21 March 1943 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 ...

– 11 March 2006 in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

) was a former Hungarian television commentator and General Secretary of the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

and the AIPS. István Gyulai (21 March 1943 in

– 11 March 2006 in

) was a former Hungarian television commentator and General Secretary of the

and the AIPS. A sprinter during his active

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

career, he was a 28-time national champion. He won two relay medals in two editions of the

Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

: a gold medal over 4 x 100 metres in 1963 and a silver medal over 4 x 400 metres in 1965. He participated in the

1964 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this hon ...

.Istvan Gyulai : 1943 - 2006

(2006-03-12). Retrieved on 2011-07-31. He was part of the

Budapest Honvéd 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 of ...

sports club. He started his television career in 1970 on Hungarian television. He led the sport section between 1990 and 1991. He was a member of the IAAF Council from 1984 until 2001, and from 1991 until his death he was the General Secretary of the IAAF. During his years in the council, he still worked for the Hungarian Television as well. He was a key figure in helping Hungary host major athletics events; among the competitions held in the country were two editions of the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

, the 1994 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the

1998 European Athletics Championships The 17th European Athletics Championships were held from 18 August to 23 August 1998 in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. Men's results Track 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , 2006 , Field 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , 2006 , Women's resul ...

.Inaugural Istvan Gyulai Memorial announced

(2011-05-23). Retrieved on 2011-07-31. On 7 October 2006 the athletics stadium in

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

was rededicated the István Gyulai Athletics Stadium in his honour. Five years after his death, the

Gyulai István Memorial The Gyulai István Memorial is an annual track and field meet that takes place at Bregyó közi Regionális Atlétika Központ in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. It was first held in 2011 at the Ferenc Puskás Stadium in Budapest. The meeting is curre ...

– Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix was launched in his honour, with his younger son Márton acting as meeting director. His first wife, middle-distance runner Olga Kazi, also competed at the Olympics for Hungary.Olga Kazi
. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-07-31. Both his sons followed his steps in sports. The elder, Miklós Gyulai, a sprinter who was national champion and ran the 4x100 relay on the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

and the 4x100 relay final on the 1999 World Championships, was also the founding member of the Hungarian

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

team, competing in 1994, 1998 and 2002

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. His younger son,

Márton Gyulai Márton Gyulai (born 12 December 1979, Vác, Hungary) is an international sports executive, with significant experience in bidding for, and organising world- and European championships, mainly in athletics. Gyulai graduated from the University o ...

is a former pilot of the Hungarian bobsleigh team having driven both the 2-man and the 4-man sled in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. The idea of the boys trying themselves out in bobsleigh came from their father and a close family friend, Andrew Frankl. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, a hugely popular biography was published in Hungarian in 2500 copies available online called: "A Királynő Helytartója: Gyulai István életrajzi regénye". An English edition is planned for 2015 depending on the funding available.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyulai, Istvan 1943 births 2006 deaths Hungarian male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Hungary Athletics (track and field) administrators Athletes from Budapest Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for Hungary Medalists at the 1963 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1965 Summer Universiade