Alfréd Hajós (1 February 1878 – 12 November 1955) was a Hungarian

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 ...

, football player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

, and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was the first modern

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

swimming champion and the first Olympic champion of

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, Croa ...

. No other swimmer ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games. He was also part of the first-ever team fielded by

in 1902.

Biography

Hajós was born 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 ...

, as Arnold Guttmann, to a family of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

background. He was 13 years old when he felt compelled to become a good swimmer after his father drowned in the

Danube River The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. He took the name Hajós (sailor in Hungarian) for his athletic career because it was a Hungarian name. In 1896, Hajós was an architecture student in Hungary when the Athens Games took place. He was allowed to compete, but permission from the university to miss class was difficult to obtain. When he returned to the Dean of the Polytechnical University, the dean did not congratulate Hajós on his Olympic success, but instead said: "Your medals are of no interest to me, but I am eager to hear your replies in your next examination." At the 1896 Games, the swimming events were held in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

battling the elements. The 18-year-old Hajós won his two gold medals in extremely cold weather (the water temperature was about , or 13 degrees Celsius) with 12-foot (4 m) waves crashing down on him. He won the 100-metre freestyle with a time of 1:22.2, and the 1,200-metre freestyle in 18:22.1. Hajós wanted to win all three distances, but the 500-metre freestyle was immediately after the 100 and immediately before the 1,200. Before the 1,200-metre race, he smeared his body with a half-inch (one centimetre) thick layer of grease, but it proved to be of little protection against the cold. He confessed after winning the race that, "My will to live completely overcame my desire to win." While at a dinner honoring Olympic winners, the Crown Prince of Greece asked Hajós where he had learned to swim so well. Hajós replied, "In the water." The next morning, the Athenian journal ''Acropolis'' depicted Alfréd with the subtitle: "Hungarian Dolphin". He was the youngest winner in

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

. Prior to the Athens Olympics, Hajós was the 100 metre freestyle European swimming champion in 1895 and 1896. A versatile athlete, he won Hungary's

100 metre sprint The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

championship in 1898, as well as the National

400 metre hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

and discus titles. He also played as a forward in Hungary's national football championship between 1901 and 1903, and on 12 October 1902, he again went down in history as one of the eleven footballers who played in the first international match played by the

Hungarian national team The Hungary national football team ( hu, magyar labdarúgó-válogatott) represents Hungary in men's international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. The team has made 9 appearances in the FIFA World Cup and 4 app ...

, captaining his side in a 0–5 loss to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Between 1897 and 1904 he was also a football referee, and during 1906 he was the coach of Hungary's national football team, leading the nation in three games (two draws and 1 win). In 1924, Hajós, an architect specializing in sport facilities, entered the art competitions at the Paris Olympic Games. His plan for a stadium, devised together with

Dezső Lauber Dezső Lauber (23 May 1879 – 5 September 1966) was a Hungarian all-round sportsman and architect. He was born in Pécs and died in Budapest. Lauber was an all-round champion athlete in the late 19th and early 20th century, competing in ...

(who played

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

in the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an International sport, international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. Th ...

), was awarded the silver medal; the jury did not award a gold medal in the competition. Thus making him one of only two Olympians ever to have won medals in both sport and art Olympic competitions. The best known sports facility designed by Hajós is the

Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium The Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium is an aquatics complex located on Margaret Island in Budapest, Hungary.The facility has four floors, covers an area of about 80,000 square meters and has eight indoor and outdoor pools, including tra ...

built on Margitsziget (Margaret Island) in the Danube in Budapest, which was built in 1930, and used for the 1958, 2006 and 2010 European Aquatics Championships, and the

2006 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup The 13th edition of the FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup was held in the Alfréd Hajós Swimming Pool on Margitsziget (Margaret Island) in Budapest, Hungary, from 13 to 18 June 2006. Teams Squads * Goran Volarević * Damir Burić * Boris P ...

. In 1953, the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

awarded him the Olympic diploma of merit. He is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, and in 1981 he was also made a member of the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere aroun ...

. His brother, Henrik Hajós, won gold medal in 4x250 m Freestyle swimming at 1906 Olympic Games in Athens.

Buildings

His first designs were in

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

and eclectic style, later he turned to

modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, ...

and was influenced by Italian styles. * Hotel Aranybika,

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 ...

* Gymnasium of Janko Francisci - Rimavský, (

Levoča Levoča (; hu, Lőcse; rue, Левоча) is a town in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,700. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the highest wooden altar in the wor ...

, 1913) * Protestant Church Centre, Budapest * Újpest FC's UTE Stadium,

Újpest Újpest (; german: Neu-Pest, en, New Pest) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary i ...

, Megyeri ut (1922) * Swimming Stadium, Budapest, Margitsziget (today it bears his name) * Millenáris Sportpálya, Budapest XIV * Sports ground,

Miskolc Miskolc ( , , ; Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the fourth larges ...

* Sports ground,

Pápa Pápa is a historical town in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 32,473 inhabitants (2011), it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the re ...

* Sports ground,

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

* Sports ground,

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in the southwestern part of Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kapo ...

* Girls' School (Hungarian: III. állam polgári leányiskola Pozsonyban, Slovak: III. štátna meštianska škola dievčenská v Bratislave) 1914,

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...

* Népkert Vigadó, Miskolc,

Népkert {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 The People's Garden (in Hungarian: ''Népkert)'' is a park in Miskolc, Hungary. With an area of 56.921 m2, it is the third largest park of Miskolc (after Tapolca-Hejőliget and Csanyik, but since those are in ...

* Swimbath, Szeged (Ligetfürdő, 1930)

Gallery

Miskolc Weidlich 1.jpg , Weidlich House in

(1912) Debrecen Arany Bika Szálló.jpg , Grand Hotel Aranybika in

(1913) Vigadó 2.jpg , Vigadó Restaurant in the Peoples Park of Miskolc MillenarisGrandstand.jpg , Millenáris Sportpálya in Budapest XIV (1928) Budapest Hajos Alfred Sportuszoda IMG 0458-1000.jpg ,

in Budapest (1930) Napraforgó 17-04.JPG , Napraforgó Street 17

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2 ...

-style building in Budapest

References

External links

* *

The Hajós Alfréd Társaság, the Alfréd Hajós Society

Alfréd Hajós in International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

Alfréd Hajós at Jewish.hu's list of famous Hungarians
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hajos, Alfred 1878 births 1955 deaths Hungarian male swimmers Hungarian football managers Hungarian architects Olympic swimmers of Hungary Swimmers at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century sportsmen Olympic gold medalists for Hungary Olympic silver medalists in art competitions Sportspeople from Budapest Austro-Hungarian Jews Jewish Hungarian sportspeople Jewish swimmers Jewish architects Art Nouveau architects Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1896 Summer Olympics Hungarian male freestyle swimmers Olympic gold medalists in swimming Hungarian footballers Hungary international footballers Olympic competitors in art competitions Association football forwards Budapesti TC players

Biography

Buildings

Gallery

See also

References

External links