László Cseh (; born 3 December 1985) is a retired Hungarian competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

and six-time Olympic medalist. He is a 33-time European Champion. His father, László Cseh Sr., also represented Hungary at the Olympics in swimming. In 2020 Braden Keith of SwimSwam nominated him as number 1 withi
top 10 male swimmers
who have never won Olympic gold.

Personal

The son of an Olympic swimmer, Cseh started swimming competitively at an early age. Cseh is coached by György Turi and Zoltán Nemes. He holds a scholarship with the Olympic Solidarity programme.

Swimming career

At the 2003 World Championships, Cseh captured a silver medal in the 400 m individual medley, his first medal at the highest level. He also finished 7th and 13th in the

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and 200 metres backstroke, all in national record time. Kazan 2015 - László Cseh 50m butterfly final

2004 Olympics

Cseh represented

Hungary at the 2004 Summer Olympics Hungary competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. Hungarian athletes have competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, and the 1984 Summer Olympics ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in the 400 m individual medley, 100 m backstroke, and the 200 m individual medley, despite having broken his ankle in the training camp on a stairway a couple of weeks before. Nevertheless, he won a bronze medal in the 400 m individual medley as well as coming in fourth in the 200 m individual medley, and sixth in the 100 m backstroke. At the 2005 World Championships, Cseh not only improved his national records, he excelled further up in the world rankings, and entered the meet as a serious medal contender in 3 events. After

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

backed out of the 400 m individual medley, Cseh picked up his first gold medal at the world championships. Cseh failed to back up his previous performances in the 2007 World Championships, finishing outside the medals in the 400 m individual medley; however he did set a new national record in the 200 m individual medley, along with testing out the 200 m freestyle.

2008 Olympics

Cseh represented

Hungary at the 2008 Summer Olympics Hungary competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country sent 131 individual competitors (77 men and 54 women) plus the men's and women's water polo teams and the women's handball team (13+13 + 14 athletes, respectively) for a t ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in three swimming events: the 400 m individual medley, the 200 m butterfly, and the 200 m individual medley. Despite setting the European record in all of them, he won the silver medal in each and came in second behind American Michael Phelps, who won each event with a new world record. In both individual medleys, Cseh came out ahead of the bronze-medal winner

Ryan Lochte Ryan Steven Lochte ( ; born August 3, 1984) is an American professional swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. Along with Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres, and Jenny Thompson, he is the second-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured by to ...

. At the 2009 World Championships, Cseh was rushed to hospital on arrival in Rome, suffering from a stomach virus. A source close to the Hungarian team stated: "He has had to have re hydration and electrolyte drinks but is quite sick." He scratched his first event, the 200 m butterfly, however he did return to competition on day 4 setting a European record in the 200 m individual medley, swimming a touch slower the next night to capture silver, final night of competition saw him take bronze in the 400 m individual medley. At the 2010 European Championships, Cseh held off

Markus Rogan Markus Antonius Rogan (born 4 May 1982 in Vienna) is a retired Austrian swimmer, who won two silver medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and a gold medal for 200 m backstroke at the 2008 World Short Course Championships in ...

for gold in the 200 m individual medley, winning the event for the third time. Also taking gold in the 400 m individual medley for the fourth time. He scratched the European Short Course Championships to focus on the World Short Course Championships where he won a bronze in the 200 m butterfly. At the 2011 World Championships, he took bronze in the 200 m individual medley, finished 9th in the 100 m butterfly, and 12th in the 200 m butterfly. Kazan 2015 - Medallists 200m butterfly M

Kazan 2015 - Medallists 200m butterfly M

2012 Olympics

At the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he competed in 6 events: the 200 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley, 400 m individual medley, and the 3 relays. Cseh narrowly failed to reach the final of the 400 meter individual medley, coming in 9th position in the semi-finals. He finished 12th in the 200m butterfly. Cseh did add to his Olympic medal count with a bronze in the 200 meter individual medley, touching the wall in a time of 1:56.22, behind Phelps (gold – 1:54.27) and Lochte (silver – 1:54.90). At the

2015 World Aquatics Championships The 16th FINA World Aquatics Championships, FINA World Championships (russian: Чемпионат мира по водным видам спорта 2015), also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia host ...

, Cseh finally won another gold, 10 years after his first, by winning the 200m butterfly in 1:53.48, 0.2 seconds ahead of

Chad le Clos Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos, OIS (born 12 April 1992) is a South African competitive swimmer who is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion. He is the African record, Commonwealth record, and South African record holder in the short ...

2016 Olympics

At the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

, he competed in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly, along with the 4 × 100 m medley relay. In 100 m butterfly he finished 2nd along with rivals

and

, where Singaporean

Joseph Schooling Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean professional swimmer who specialises in butterfly, freestyle and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's first ev ...

won the race with a new Olympic record. Cseh has now won Olympic silver medals in four different events, and he has also won individual medals in four different Olympics.

2020 Olympics

At the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, Laszlo Cseh competed in his fifth and last Olympic games, entering in men's 200m IM only. The 35-year-old Hungarian stopped the clock in a time of 1:57.68 to finish 7th in the race, after the race he announced retirement from competitive swimming, ending his legendary career as 6-time Olympic medalist and 13-time World Champ medalist.

Career best times

Cseh has broken five short course world records and progressively lowered numerous European records in his career.

Awards

* Hungarian swimmer of the Year (9): 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 * HUN Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) Gold BAR

Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary – Golden Cross (2004) *

Swimming World Magazine ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

– European Swimmer of the Year (2): 2005, 2006 * Hungarian Athlete of the Year (1) - the National Sports Association (NSSZ) awards: 2006 * Budapest Pro Urbe award (2006) *

Hungarian Sportsman of the Year Hungarian Sportspeople of the Year awards are granted each year since 1958, with categories for sportsmen, sportswomen, teams, coaches (since 1985) and presidents (since 1995). List of winners Statistics Individual winners of three or mor ...

(2) - votes of sports journalists: 2006, 2015 * Junior Príma award (2007) * HUN Order of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) 4class BAR

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary – Officer's Cross (2008) * Honorary Citizen of

Balatonalmádi Balatonalmádi () is a popular resort town in Veszprém county, in Hungary, with a population of 8,500, situated on the northern shore of Lake Balaton. History The town developed from three previously separated villages, which were united by c ...

(2008) * Príma Primissima award (2009) * Honorary Citizen of

Kőbánya Kőbánya (literally: Quarry, ) is the 10th district of Budapest () and one of the largest by territory. It is located in southeast Pest, easily accessible from the downtown by Metro 3, whose terminus is named '' Kőbánya-Kispest''. It has ...

(2011) *

HUN Order of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) 3class BAR

Order of Merit of Hungary – Commander's Cross (2012) * Hungarian university athlete of the year (1): 2015 *

Hungarian Heritage Award The Hungarian Heritage Award ( hu, Magyar Örökség díj) is a distinction awarded to Hungarian institutions or persons who have contributed to activities of Hungarian culture, economy, sports or science, to ensure the spiritual uplift of Hungar ...

(2015) * European swimmer of the year (

LEN Len or LEN may refer to: People and fictional characters * Len (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lén, a character from Irish mythology * Alex Len (born 1993), Ukrainian basketball player * Mr. Len, American hip hop DJ *Le ...

) (2015) * Honorary Citizen of

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque build ...

(2016) *

HUN Order of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) 2class BAR

Order of Merit of Hungary – Commander's Cross with Star (2016)

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cseh, Laszlo 1985 births Living people Hungarian male swimmers Olympic swimmers of Hungary Male butterfly swimmers Male backstroke swimmers Male medley swimmers Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Hungary Olympic bronze medalists for Hungary Swimmers from Budapest World record setters in swimming Olympic bronze medalists in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics European champions for Hungary People from Halásztelek Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Universiade medalists in swimming Universiade gold medalists for Hungary Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade 20th-century Hungarian people 21st-century Hungarian people