József Várszegi (also known as József Vennesz; 7 September 1910, in

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

– 12 June 1977, 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 ...

) was a Hungarian

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who competed in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

. Among his best results are a

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

bronze medal from 1938 and an

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

bronze from 1948. Várszegi won the Hungarian national championships a record 20 times between 1932 and 1952 and also broke the Hungarian national record six times during his career.

Career

Várszegi was born in

and began to do athletics in local clubs Dunántúli AC and Győri AC. An all-around athlete in his youth, he competed both in running and throwing events, achieving his best results in javelin throw. In 1930 he won the national high school championships with a competition record of 52.22 metres. Later he went to study on the University of Physical Education in Budapest. His first major results came at International University Games, winning the javelin throw event in 1933 and finishing second in 1937. In addition he earned a sixth place in 1935. He also won the unofficial, German-led

1939 International University Games The 1939 International University Games were organised by the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants (CIE) and held in Monte Carlo, Monaco. At these games a number of Athletics (sport), Athletic events were contested. An 1939 International Un ...

. He participated at his first

in 1934, coming fifth with a distance of 65.81 metres. Four years later he finished third in the same event thanks to throw of 72.78 metres, with that he set a new national record which was broken only 17 years later. In 1936 Várszegi was present at the Olympic Games, where although he came through the qualifying round with the best result (69.7 meters), he did not manage to go anywhere near that distance in the final and eventually finished eighth. In the next decade due to the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

there were no other major events held, however, the Hungarian Athletics Championships were not interrupted and took place in every year. Várszegi, who was unbeatable since 1932, extended his run during this period and won a total of 20 national titles until 1952, making him the most successful javelin thrower in the competition history. Várszegi did not participate at the 1946 European Championships, however, in the next year he competed at International University Games and won the gold medal for the second time after his success in 1933. The best achievement of Várszegi's career came in 1948, when at the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

he won the bronze medal in the

. His last major event was the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

at the age of 41. Várszegi failed to advance to the final round after he could not hit the qualifying limit of 64 metres and finished 23rd overall. After retirement from professional sport, Várszegi became a coach and worked for Vasas SC and Budapest Honvéd SE. He died in

in 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varszegi, Jozsef 1910 births 1977 deaths Sportspeople from Győr Hungarian male javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Hungary Olympic bronze medalists for Hungary European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen