17times world cup championship Rita Kovács (born 29 March 1970 in

Nyíregyháza Nyíregyháza (, ) is a city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the seventh-largest city in Hungary and the second largest in the Northern Great ...

) is a former long-distance

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 ...

from

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. She represented her home country at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in 800 metre freestyle. She also competed in

open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. Competitive open water swimming is governed by the International Swimming Federation, World Aquatics (formerly kno ...

, winning several medals.Kovács's entry
on www.sports-reference.com; retrieved 2011-07-06 She started her carrier in a local sportclub, called NYVSSC (Nyíregyházi Vasutas Spartacus Sport Club).

References

1970 births Living people Hungarian female freestyle swimmers Female long-distance swimmers Hungarian female swimmers Sportspeople from Nyíregyháza Olympic swimmers for Hungary Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming {{Hungary-swimming-bio-stub