Ibolya Csák (6 January 1915 – 9 February 2006) was a Hungarian

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-develo ...

Career

Csák was best known as the winner of the women's high jump at the

1936 Berlin 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- ...

. She won a gold medal in the European Championships in Athletics in 1938 in unusual circumstances. She was the first Hungarian woman to win a gold medal in both events. Her win in the 1936 Olympics was one of the tightest in the history of high jumping. Three athletes cleared 160 cm but none cleared 162. The three competitors were offered a fourth opportunity and Csák was the only one to clear the height. She was a Hungarian Jew; she was one of a number of Jewish athletes who won medals at the Olympics in Berlin in 1936. Csák won the gold medal in the 1938 European championships after the original winner, Germany's

Dora Ratjen Heinrich Ratjen (20 November 1918 – 22 April 2008), born Dora Ratjen, was a German athlete who competed for Germany in the women's high jump at the 1936 Summer Olympics at Berlin, finishing fourth, but was later determined to be male and/or in ...

, turned out to be a man. The height Csák cleared in that event was the Hungarian record for the high jump for the next 24 years. She won nine Hungarian titles in all, including two in the long jump. She was a competitor of the National Gymnastics Club (NTE) from 1929 until 1939, a gymnast from 1929 until 1932, and an athlete from 1933 until 1939. She also received the International Fair Play Life Achievement Award in 2005.

Personal life

Between 1936 and 1970, she worked in the central office of the Hungarian Banknote Printing Co. She had two children, Ibolya (1940) and Attila (1942).

References

External links

"Hungarian great Csak dies aged 91, ''CNN'', February 10, 2006 accessed February 11, 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Csak, Ibolya 1915 births 2006 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Hungarian female high jumpers Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Hungary Olympic gold medalists for Hungary Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Hungarian Jews Jewish sportspeople Athletes from Budapest

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links