President Krisztián Kulcsár will serve another 4-year term at the helm of the Hungarian National Olympic Committee after he has been re-elected at the General Assembly held at the Budapest Congress Center, where a new Executive Board was also elected and the Statutes were also amended, following a decision to hold snap elections.
The Executive Board of the Hungarian Olympic Committee decided at its meeting on 27 May to convene the General Assembly and hold snap elections, thereby giving enough time for the next administration to prepare for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Members of the GA were greeted by Ministry of Human Capacities’ Minister of State for Sport and Olympic silver medallist swimmer Dr Tünde Szabó.
The General Assembly continued by a one-minute silence as part of a commemoration to honour those who passed away since the last GA on 30 November 2019, including Éva Székely, Tamás Wichmann, Ottó Bonn, Károly Wieland, Dr István Kausz, Péter Marót, Dr György Kárpáti and Tibor Benedek.
Secretary General Bálint Vékássy informed HOC Members about the professional and financial report of the Executive Board for 2019.
Chef de Mission Viktória Dósa held a presentation on the only significant Olympic multisport event of the year, the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, while Director of Sports and Olympic gold medallist modern pentathlete László Fábián held a presentation on the successes and sports professional aspects of Lausanne 2020, including the first ever Hungarian gold at a Winter YOG won by hockey player Levente Hegedüs.
There was no contender at this year’s General Assembly for the presidential office so President Krisztián Kulcsár won the simple majority vote in a convincing fashion, with 103 “In favour” and 3 “Against” votes out of the 106 votes. Thus, the two-time Olympic silver medallist épée fencer will oversee the Tokyo 2020, the Beijing 2022 and the Paris 2024 Games.
Hungarian Canoe Federation President Gábor Schmidt appointed Vice President in charge of Summer Olympic Sports, while Tamás Deutsch was elected Vice President in charge of Winter Olympic Sports.
The newly elected Executive Board, comprising Olympic silver medallist handball player Katalin Pálinger, two-time Olympic gold medallist water polo player Attila Vári, two-time Olympic gold medallist gymnast Zoltán Magyar, Olympic gold medallist swimmer and Hungarian Swimming Association President Sándor Wladár, Olympic gold medallist judoka Antal Kovács, two-time Olympic silver and bronze medallist épée fencer Géza Imre and Olympic tennis player László Markovits, remained largely the same with one exception. The Executive Board held its inaugural meeting following the General Assembly. IOC Member and Olympic gold medallist épée fencer Pál Schmitt, IOC Athletes Commission Member and Olympic gold medallist swimmer Dániel Gyurta and International Fair Play Committee President and two-time Olympic silver medallist foil fencer Dr Jenő Kamuti automatically became Members of the executive body of the Hungarian Olympic Committee thanks to their membership or presidency in international organisations. In a similar vein, the Executive Board re-elected Secretary General Bálint Vékássy who will continue to lead the Administration of the Hungarian Olympic Committe for another four years.
The 14-item agenda of the HOC GA also included a report of the period since the last GA, approving the respective reports of the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board for 2019, approving the public service report, auditor’s report and the budget for the 2020 reference year of the Hungarian Olympic Committee.
An historic moment, almost exactly 31 years ago at the very same place, the democratic Hungarian Olympic Committee was established with Pál Schmitt as President on 17 July 1989.
(HOC, photo: HOC/Péter Szalmás)