Péter Kelemen (born 2 September 1946) is a retired Hungarian

modern pentathlete The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anc ...

. Kelemen began his career in 1958 as a swimmer for

Budapesti VSC Budapesti Vasutas Sport Club-Zugló is a professional football club based in Zugló, Budapest, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság III. The club was founded in 1911. Its football section became closed in 2001, but has now reopened ...

. He switched to modern pentathlon in 1963, following the advice from his PE teacher, joining Újpesti Dózsa. His first major achievement in the sport came in 1966 when he won a gold medal at the Junior World Championship, in both team and individual events. After being ninth at the 1969 World Championship, he won the same competition the following year, in

Warendorf Warendorf (, Westphalian: ''Warnduorp'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of Warendorf District. The town is best known today for its well-preserved medieval town centre, for horse-riding, and the opportunities it prov ...

, Germany, by defeating his compatriot András Balczó by only three points, gathering around 5000 points in total. Kelemen was the first modern pentathlete to win the individual event at both Junior and Adult World Championships. In 1970, Kelemen was chosen as the

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

, while the pentathlon team was chosen as the Team of the Year. He was selected as a back-up team member for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, but was excluded from the team later due to a conflict between his coach, András Nyulászi, and the Hungarian Modern Pentathlon Association. Kelemen retired from the sport in 1977 and started a coaching career. He coached Újpesti Dózsa and Budapesti VSC as a fencing coach. In 1988, he was invited to

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

in order to coach the South Korean Modern Pentathlon Team as a fencing and compound coach. From 1981, he was the director of the shooting center at Újpesti Dózsa, and also coached

Csilla Füri Csilla Füri (born 24 April 1972) is a retired modern pentathlete from Hungary. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, where she finished eleventh in the women's event with a score of 5,144 points. Füri is a two-time nati ...

, another Hungarian modern pentathlete. He also served as a director of the technical board in the National Modern Pentathlon Association. From 2001 until his retirement in 2007, he coached the BHSE's Modern Pentathlon Team.

Personal life

His first wife, Jutka Békei, is a former kayak athlete; the couple had two sons, Szabolcs, born 14 December 1971, and Zoltan, born 13 October 1977.

References

1946 births Living people Hungarian male modern pentathletes World Modern Pentathlon Championships medalists Sportspeople from Budapest 20th-century Hungarian people 21st-century Hungarian people {{Hungary-modern-pentathlon-bio-stub