At the 13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) held last week and over the weekend in Windsor, Ontario, Hungary claimed seven gold medals. All seven were won by "Iron Lady" Katinka Hosszú, who also took two silver medals, single-handedly propelling her country to second place in the medals chart.
This is the first time that this many gold medals have been won at any FINA championships by any athlete, male or female. The three-time
Olympic champion also accepted the title of 2016 FINA Female Swimmer of the Year.
Hosszú is known for demonstrating enormous versatility in the water, and holds several world records in different swimming events. She
currently owns all 17 national Hungarian records in short course events, along with five world records: the 100m and 200m backstroke,
and the 100m, 200m and 400m individual medley.
Hosszú, who shaved just over two seconds off her own world record in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley, thanked Windsor for the "great set-up which allowed us to perform at our best."
As the championships in Windsor come to a close, Budapest 2024 has released computer generated imagery (CGI) of the aquatics venue in the master plan for their Olympic bid.
"It seems fitting that the CGI of the Budapest Aquatics Centre goes public just as we celebrate this extraordinary achievement by an
extraordinary Hungarian athlete," said the Chairman of Budapest 2024, Balázs Fürjes.
The Budapest Aquatics Centre (BAC), is being built as the flagship venue for next year’s FINA world championships, and is now nearing
the final phase of its construction. Responsibility for the timely completion of the BAC falls to Fürjes, who is also Government Commissioner for Major Budapest Developments and a FINA 2017 Organising Committee member.
"The Budapest Aquatics Centre is being completed in a record-breaking two years," he said, "making this the first Aquatics World
Championships where the first record will be set on dry land, by the construction team. This will by no means be the first time that
Budapest has completed a challenging project on time and to budget - all to a very high standard."
The BAC is also a jewel in the crown for Budapest’s Olympic master plan – a state-of-the-art aquatics venue in the city centre, easily
accessible by multiple public transport routes.
Budapest hosted Europe’s inaugural Aquatics Championships in 1926 and has been chosen to host the event twice since then. It has also
staged four European Water Polo Championships. Bearing in mind the nation’s enthusiasm for all things aquatic, there’s no doubt that there is a busy calendar ahead for the BAC. In 2020, both the European Aquatics and Water Polo Championships will return to Budapest,
making full use of the BAC which looks set to quickly become a sought-after venue for the wider region, providing high-tech facilities for elite swimmers and athletes of the future.
For more information, please contact:
Ivan Rozsa
Ivan.Rozsa@budapest2024.org
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