János Garay (fencer)

Jànos Garay
Personal information
Nationality	Hungarian
Born	23 February 1889; Budapest, Hungary
Died	21 April 1945 (aged 56); Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, Austria
Sport
Sport	Fencing, sabre
Club	Nemzeti Vívó Club; Tisza István Vívóklub
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	1924, 1928
Medal record
Men's fencing

János Garay (23 February 1889 – 21 April 1945) was a Jewish Hungarian fencer,^[1] and one of the best sabre fencers in the world in the 1920s. Gaining international recognition in Olympic sabre competition, he distinguished himself winning a gold medal in 1928 in Amsterdam, and a silver and bronze medal in 1924 in Paris.^[2]^[3]

Personal

Garay had two children: Jànos, a water polo player and Mària, a swimmer. He was also father-in-law to Valéria Gyenge.^[4]

Fencing career

Hungarian Championship

Garay was the Hungarian national sabre champion in 1923.^[5]

European and World Championships

In 1925^[5] and 1930, Garay captured the Individual European Sabre Championship gold medal. He won the team sabre gold medal at the 1930 European Championships. The European Championships were predecessor to the World Championships, first held in 1937.^[6]

Olympics

Recognized internationally as a skilled and knowledgeable fencer, Garay served as an Olympic referee and judge for the fencing competition in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.^[7]

1928

He won a gold medal in team saber at the 1928 Amsterdam Games.^[8]

1924

He won a silver medal in team saber and a bronze medal in individual sabre at the 1924 Paris Olympics.^[8]

Concentration Camp and Death

He was one of 437,000 Jews deported from Hungary to a concentration camp after Germany occupied the country in 1944.^[5]

At Mauthausen concentration camp, where he had been taken, he was a prominent detainee and a Nazi hostage in their negotiations with the Soviets. He was kept in a very small bunker and died in May 1945 as “death case # 14271,” his death officially declared as due to cardiac insufficiency.^[7]^[9]^[10]

Hall of Fame

Garay, who was Jewish, was inducted in 1990 into The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel.^[11]^[12]^[13]

References

^ "Magyar Olimpiai Bizottság". www.mob.hu. Archived from the original on 20 June 2006.
^ "Uc_Hilal: Jews In Sports". Jewsinsports.org. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
^ "János Garay Biography and Olympic Results | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
^ "János Garay". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c JÃ¡nos Garay Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com
^ "Janos Garay". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Janos Garay". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b "János Garay Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
^ Schaffer, Kay; Smith, Sidonie (2000). The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games. Rutgers University Press. pp. 60–62. ISBN 978-0-8135-2820-5.
^ "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
^ Taylor, Paul (2004). Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash Between Sport and Politics – With a Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medalists. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 9781903900888.
^ Continuing Persecution
^ "Janos Garay". 25 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

External links

János Garay at Olympedia
János Garay at the Hungarian Olympic Committee (in Hungarian)
Holocaust Museum bio
Jewish Sports bio
Jews in Sports bio
Jewish Sports Legends bio
"Jewish Olympic Champions; Victims of the Holocaust
"The Olympics and the Holocaust," 2004
"The Nazi Olympics"
"The Nazi Olympic Victims"^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[1] "Magyar Olimpiai Bizottság". www.mob.hu. Archived from the original on 20 June 2006.

[2] "Uc_Hilal: Jews In Sports". Jewsinsports.org. Retrieved 26 March 2010.

[3] "János Garay Biography and Olympic Results | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2010.

[4] "János Garay". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 October 2021.

[autogenerated1-5] JÃ¡nos Garay Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com

[IJSHOF-6] "Janos Garay". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 18 May 2023.

[Olympedia-7] "Janos Garay". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 May 2023.

[sports-reference-8] "János Garay Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2010.

[Schaffer-9] Schaffer, Kay; Smith, Sidonie (2000). The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games. Rutgers University Press. pp. 60–62. ISBN 978-0-8135-2820-5.

[WWII-10] "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2018.

[11] Taylor, Paul (2004). Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash Between Sport and Politics – With a Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medalists. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 9781903900888.

[12] Continuing Persecution

[13] "Janos Garay". 25 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

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