Tamás Kásás (; born 20 July 1976) is a retired Hungarian

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

player. Kásás is often described as the best defensive player of his era, if not the best overall. He is known for his ability to spring out of the water and block shots, as well as his strength in one-on-one situations. He is also noted for his highly accurate shots and passes. He picked up the sport at the age of six, being taught by his father Zoltán, who is a coach in

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 ...

Zoltán Kásás Zoltán Kásás (born 15 September 1946 in Alpár) is a Hungarian former water polo player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics. See also * List of Olympic medalists in water polo (men) * List of world champions in men's water polo * Lis ...

was also a gifted player who won an Olympic silver medal in 1972, a World Championship in 1973, and a European title in 1974. He made his Olympic debut in 1996, where Hungary reached the semifinals before losing to the Manuel Estiarte-led Spanish squad. However, the Hungarian team bounced back to win European Championships in 1997 and 1999, as well as a Champions League cup in 1998, culminating with three Olympic gold medals at Sydney in 2000, Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. Kásás played in five consecutive

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

for his native country from

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. He is, jointly with Croat Igor Hinić and Greek Georgios Afroudakis, the tenth athlete to compete in water polo at five Olympics. He is also a leading goalscorer in Olympic water polo history, with 56 goals. In 2007 Kásás won Euro League with

Pro Recco A.S.D. Pro Recco (Official name: Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Pro Recco) is an Italian professional water polo club from Recco, in Liguria. It currently plays in Serie A1. Pro Recco is the most successful club in men's water polo. In m ...

. He was named ''Most Valuable Player'' at the

2002 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup The 2002 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup was the twelfth edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body in aquatics, the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The event took place in the Tašmajdan Swimming Pool in Belgrade, Y ...

, where Hungary claimed the silver medal.

Honours

National

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 ...

Gold medal –

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

World Championships 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 ...

Gold medal –

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

;

Silver medal – 1998, 2005, 2007 *

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 ...

Gold medal –

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

;

Silver medal – 1995, 2006; Bronze medal europe

Bronze medal – 2001, 2003, 2008, 2012 * FINA World League: Gold medal blank

Gold medal –

;

Bronze medal – 2002 * FINA World Cup: Gold medal blank

Gold medal –

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

;

Silver medal – 2002, 2006; Bronze medal blank

Bronze medal – 1997 * Junior World Championships: (Gold medal – 1995) * Junior European Championship: (Gold medal – 1994)

Club

European competitions: * Coppa dei campioni pallanuoto

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

Winners (5): (1998 – with Posillipo; 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 – with Pro Recco) * Coppa LEN

LEN Cup The European Aquatics Euro Cup is the second-tier European water polo club competition run by the European Aquatics for those clubs who did not qualify for the European Aquatics Champions League. The cup was inaugurated in 1992. From 2024, afte ...

Winners (2): (1997 – with UTE; 2005 – with Savona) * Supercoppa europea pallanuoto

LEN Super Cup The European Aquatics Super Cup is an annual water polo match organized by European Aquatics and contested by the reigning champions of the two most important European club competitions, the European Aquatics Champions League and the European A ...

Winners (4): (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 – with Pro Recco) *

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

: 1x (2012 – with Pro Recco) Domestic competitions: * Scudetto

Italian Championship ( Serie A1): 9x (2000, 2001 – with Posillipo; 2005 – with Savona; 2007, 2008, ''2009, 2010, 2011, 2012'' – with Pro Recco) * Coccarda Coppa Italia

Italian Cup (

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

): 5x (2007, ''2008, 2009, 2010, 2011'' – with Pro Recco)

Awards

* Masterly youth athlete: 1996 * Member of the Hungarian team of year: 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008 * Hungarian Water Polo Player of the Year: 1999, 2006 * Member of Hungarian national water polo team in the 20th century (2000) *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

: 2002 Belgrade *

Top Scorer: 2002 Belgrade * Honorary Citizen of

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 ...

(2008) * LEN Champions League Final Four MVP:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

* FINA Aquatics World Magazine – The Best water polo player of the Decade (2010) * Ministerial Certificate of Merit (2012) * Immortal member of the Hungarian Association of Athletes (2015) * Príma díj (2015) * Member of

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

(2015) ;Orders * Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2000) * Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2004) * Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary with the Star (2008)

References

External links

*
Tamás Kásás
at

(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasas, Tamas 1976 births Living people Water polo players from Budapest Hungarian male water polo players Water polo drivers Water polo players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Hungary in water polo World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen 21st-century Hungarian sportsmen