Katalin Pálinger (born 6 December 1978) is a former Hungarian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

goalkeeper who most notably played for

Győri ETO KC Győri ETO KC (, lit. Concordance Gymnastics Department of Győr Handball Club) is a Hungary, Hungarian professional women's handball club from Győr. Since they are sponsored by Audi, the official name for the team is Győri Audi ETO KC. On dome ...

. She was included in the

European Handball Federation The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is made of 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland), and is headquartered in Vienna, Au ...

Hall of Fame in 2023.

Career

She made her international debut on 22 August 1997 against Romania, and participated in her first

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in that year, however, she finished with the national team only on the disappointing ninth place. One year later, on the 1998 European Championship Hungary performed slightly better and captured a bronze medal, followed by a gold on the next continental event. Pálinger took part on another five European Championships (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010), achieving the best result in 2004 by winning a bronze. In 2000, beside the European Championship title she has also won an Olympic silver, after losing out in an epic final against Denmark. The Scandinavians faced a six-goal deficit with less than fifteen minutes from the match, when the Hungarian team collapsed and the Danes went to win by four and took the gold medal."2000 Summer Olympics – Sydney, Australia – Handball"
''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on February 13, 2008) Pálinger participated on further two Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008 finishing fifth and fourth, respectively. In addition, there are two World Championship medals on her success list, a silver from 2003 and a bronze from 2005. The shot-stopper has the experience of six World Championships under her belt, having been participated on every tournament between 1997 and 2007. Pálinger announced her retirement from international handball on 11 June 2011, following the unsuccessful World Championship qualifying campaign. She made her farewell appearance on 3 June 2012 against

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

in a European Championship qualifier. She currently acts as an assistant coach to the national team.

Achievements

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

: **''Winner'': 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 **''Silver Medalist'': 2002, 2005 **''Bronze Medalist'': 1998, 1999, 2000 *

Magyar Kupa The Hungarian Cup (, ), officially known as MOL Magyar Kupa for sponsorship reasons, is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association'','' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of ...

: **''Winner'': 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 *Slovenian Championship: **''Winner'': 2007 *Slovenian Cup: **''Winner'': 2007 *

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

: **''Finalist'': 2009, 2012 **''Semifinalist'': 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011 *

EHF Cup The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previo ...

: **''Finalist'': 1999, 2003 *

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 ...

: **''Silver Medalist'': 2000 *

: **''Silver Medalist'': 2003 **''Bronze Medalsit'': 2005 *

European Championship 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 ...

: **''Winner'': 2000 **''Bronze Medalist'': 1998, 2004

Individual awards

Hungarian Handballer of the Year The Hungarian Handballer of the Year award is an annual prize, which is given to the Hungarian handballer who is considered to have performed the best over the previous calendar year. Presented by the Hungarian Handball Federation since 1964, the ...

: 2003, 2004, 2010 *

Hall of Fame in 2023.

References

External links

Katalin Pálinger player profile on Győri Audi ETO KC Official Website

Katalin Pálinger career statistics at Worldhandball
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palinger, Katalin 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Mosonmagyaróvár Hungarian female handball players Olympic silver medalists for Hungary Handball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for Hungary Olympic medalists in handball Győri Audi ETO KC players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Hungarian expatriate handball players in Denmark Expatriate handball players in Slovenia