Stephen Estaban Kelen OAM ( Hungarian: ''Kelen István''; 21 March 1912 – 1 May 2003) was a Hungarian-Australian sportsman, journalist, author, and playwright. He won seven gold medals at the

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men ...

in the 1920s and 1930s. After moving to Australia in 1939 he had a long writing career in English.

Early life

Kelen was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in 1912. He studied philosophy at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

, and later obtained a diploma from the British Association of Industrial Editors. He wrote professionally from the age of 17 and became fluent in Hungarian, Czech and English.

Table tennis career

Between 1929 and 1936, Kelen won 15 medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the

. This included seven

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

s: five in the team event and two in the mixed doubles with

Anna Sipos Anna Sipos (3 April 1908 – 1 January 1988) was a Hungarian international table tennis player. Table tennis career She won 21 medals in the World Table Tennis Championships Eleven of these were gold medals. including six consecutive women's do ...

at the

1929 World Table Tennis Championships The 3rd World Table Tennis Championships were held in Budapest from January 14 to January 21, 1929. Medalists Team Individual References External linksITTF Museum {{World Table Tennis Championships World Table Tennis Championships Worl ...

and

Mária Mednyánszky Mária Mednyánszky (7 April 1901 Budapest – 22 December 1978 also Budapest) was a Hungarian international table tennis star. Table tennis career She became the first official women's world champion winning the women's singles event go ...

at the 1933 World Table Tennis Championships. In the 1930s, Kelen was employed in Prague as a table tennis instructor by the Czech governing body. One of his students was world champion Stanislav Kolář. In 1936, he published ''Success at Table Tennis'', a guide to the sport (1936: 1st edition. UK: Published by Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd).

In Australia

In 1937, Kelen and Miklos Szabados embarked on a two-year table tennis exhibition tour of the Far East and South America. They won the doubles tournament at the Australian national championships, and Szabados defeated Kelen in the singles final. They both chose to settle in Australia permanently. In 1939, Kelen enlisted in the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

. A member of the 66th Australian Infantry Battalion (Intelligence), he served in New Guinea,

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo wa ...

, and finally as part of the

British Commonwealth Occupation Force The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian, and New Zealander military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its pe ...

in Japan. He was a feature writer for the ''British Commonwealth Occupation Newspaper'' (BCON). Back in Australia, Kelen worked for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

(ABC) as an author and journalist, writing documentaries and features. He later worked for Goodyear as a managing editor. He was president of the Sydney branch of

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide professional association, association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association ...

(1975–1985), and a life member of the

Australian Journalists Association The Australian Journalists Association (AJA) was an Australian trade union for journalists from 1910–1992. In 1913 the Australian Journalists' Association merged with the Australian Writers' and Artists' Union. This union had been formed in 19 ...

. He won awards for short stories and plays that he authored. In 1983, he published an autobiography, ''I Remember Hiroshima''.

Personal life

Kelen is the father of academic Christopher Kelen and poet

S. K. Kelen Stephen Kenneth Kelen (born in Sydney in 1956), known as S. K. Kelen, is an Australian poet and educator. S. K. Kelen began publishing poetry in 1973, when he won the Poetry Australia Farmers Poetry Prize for young poets and several of his poems ...

References

* Havas László: A magyar sport aranykönyve – Budapest, 1982 – * ''Révai új lexikona XI. (Kad–Kla).'' Főszerk. Kollega Tarsoly István. Szekszárd: Babits. 2002. * Magyar Ki Kicsoda 1990 – * Asztalitenisz egyéni és páros országos bajnokok * Magyar asztalitenisz csapatbajnokok (PDF) * Havas László: A magyar sport aranykönyve – Budapest, 1982 – *''Révai új lexikona XI. (Kad–Kla).'' Főszerk. Kollega Tarsoly István. Szekszárd: Babits. 2002. *Magyar Ki Kicsoda 1990 – *Asztalitenisz egyéni és páros országos bajnokok *Magyar asztalitenisz csapatbajnokok (PDF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelen, Istvan 1912 births 2003 deaths Hungarian male table tennis players Hungarian emigrants to Australia Australian male dramatists and playwrights Australian Army personnel of World War II Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Charles University alumni Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Table tennis players from Budapest Writers from Budapest 20th-century Australian journalists Australian Army officers

Early life

Table tennis career

In Australia

Personal life

See also

References