Olympics: Ilona Elek, the first Hungarian female Olympic champion

In the second article of our Olympic series, we remember Ilona Elek, our first Hungarian female Olympic champion, who fought hard battles both on the piste and in life. Our two-time Olympic champion (1936, 1948), Olympic silver medalist (1952), six-time world champion, five-time European champion and ten-time Hungarian champion fencer Ilona Elek was born on May 17, 1907, in Budapest.

She was the first Hungarian woman to win an Olympic gold medal, she fought for the recognition of women's fencing in Hungary, she was the one whom neither Hitler nor Stalin could prevent from becoming one of the most successful athletes of all time.

The family intended her to be a pianist, she began fencing in secret, her family wanted to prevent her, but it was clear from her every move that she was an unparalleled talent of her era. Later, she composed many pop songs, but somehow these did not survive for posterity, unlike her successes in sports.

In the environment in which her career began, few looked favorably on women's fencing. She had to invest a lot of efforts on the piste and outside of it to prove herself and by the time she made it to the Berlin Olympics at the age of 29, she had to suffer serious disadvantages due to her Jewish origin.

Nevertheless, she easily won the gold against the German Helene Mayer, also Jewish, and the Austrian Ellen Preis, also Jewish, thoroughly infuriating Adolf Hitler. No one thought that Mayer could be defeated, previously even Attila Petschauer, who contributed as a correspondent, ruled out this possibility. However, nothing was impossible for Ilona Elek.

After a while, she was no longer able to compete in Hungary, and she had to go in hiding in Budapest during the Arrow Cross era.

And just as she didn't give up before, she didn't give up after the war and became again a gold medalist. And Ellen Preis stood next to her again on the bottom step of the podium.

And she was there even at the brightest Olympic Games for the Hungarian sport, at the age of 44, when only one wrong judge's decision prevented her from winning the third gold. She was even preparing for the Melbourne Olympics, close to age of 50, but she didn’t join the team in the end. Her character was so firm that during the days of the '56 revolution, she hid the sports leader who did a lot to prevent her participation.

Together with her younger sister Margit Elek, also a fencer, she wrote their memoirs in 1968. The girls whom neither Hitlerism nor Stalinism could defeat. The unbeatable Hungarian Jewish women.

Ilona Elek won a total of six world championship titles, five European Championship titles, ten Hungarian championship titles, and of course two Olympic gold medals. After finishing her sports career, she was the deputy director of the Watch and Jewelry Trading Company. She died on July 24, 1988, at the age of 81.

"Let the Race Be Decided on the Piste!" – Ilona Elek, the first Hungarian female Olympic champion

"...We were rare unlucky athletes. Many people smile at this, and quite a few have asked, not without all the edge, what would have happened if we were even lucky? Still... We were unlucky, because between the two much talked about Olympic gold medals, one of the bloodiest periods in world history took place. Although the results - two Olympic, three individual, eight team world championships, many domestic and international victories - contradict this statement. This is only an appearance, because when the Second World War broke out, we were actually at the beginning of our careers and successes. We reached our true peak form in the years before and after the war, that is, in the times when sports relations were broken. And after the war, we fencers could not participate in world championships or international competitions for a long time. However, as we have already mentioned, we were at the height of our strength and knowledge then. What could we have achieved then?! This is now a thing of the past...”

(Ilona Elek - Margit Elek: That's How We Fought, 1968)