Pál Kovács

Pál Kovács Ádám [ pa ː l ː a ː da m kova ː ʧ ] ( born July 17, 1912 in Debrecen, † July 8th, 1995 in Budapest) was a Hungarian saber fencer.

At the beginning of his sporting career Kovács was active as a high jumper, but then moved to Fencing.

Pál Kovács took in 1936 for the first time in the Olympic Games and won with the team the Hungarian saber fencer his first Olympic gold medal. This success with the team he repeated in 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1960.

In individual competition, he won bronze in 1948 and 1952 gold. With six Olympic gold medals Kovács is one of the most successful athletes in Olympic history. As with his teammate Aladar Gerevich the long winning streak is even more amazing than the 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games failed because of the Second World War, even at Kovács.

Kovács was also a seven-time world champion with the team in 1937 and 1953, he won the title in the individual competition, in 1951 and 1954 he was runner-up.

After his career, he was president of the Hungarian Fencing Federation, later vice- president of the International Fencing Federation ( FIE ).

His son Attila Kovács ( born 1939 ) was a member of the Hungarian saber team at the Olympic Games in 1964. This team was after the resignation of Aladar Gerevich, Rudolf Karpati and Pál Kovács not continue the long series of successes in the team competition. His second son, Tamás Kovács ( born 1943 ) won in 1968 and 1972 respectively bronze in the team competition at the Olympic Games. 1972 also included Pál Gerevich, the son of Aladar, the Hungarian team.