Hungary first participated at the Olympic Games at the inaugural 1896 Games, and has sent athletes to compete in most Summer Olympic Games and every Winter Olympic Games since then. The nation was not invited to the 1920 Games for its role in World War I, and was part of the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Hungarian athletes have won a total of 511 medals at the Summer Games and 10 medals at the Winter Games, with fencing being the top medal-producing sport. Hungary has won more Summer Olympic medals than any other existing nation never to have hosted the Games, and after overtaking Finland at the 2020 Olympic Games, it is now the country with the highest number of gold medals won per capita (not counting microstates with less than 1 million inhabitants).[1] At the 1956 and 1980 Winter Olympics, all participating Hungarian athletes won medals.
The National Olympic Committee for Hungary is the Hungarian Olympic Committee, and was created and recognized in 1895.
The Hungarian athletes who won the most medals in the history of the Olympic Games are the fencer Aladár Gerevich and the gymnast Ágnes Keleti.
Notes: athletes in bold are still active.
Notes: athletes in bold are still active.
Hungary first competed in athletics at the inaugural 1896 Games, with 3 athletes competing in 5 events and winning a silver and two bronze medals. The nation's first gold medal in the sport came in 1900, with Rudolf Bauer's victory in the discus throw.
Hungary has won the third-most gold medals and second-most total medals in fencing, in each case behind Italy and France. Hungary has historically been most successful in the sabre events. Hungary's first fencing appearance was in 1900, with 7 fencers including sabreurs who finished 4th and 5th. Hungary has dominated the men's individual sabre, winning half of the gold medals (14 of 28), including a string of 9 consecutive victories from 1924 to 1964 (with an 11-Games podium streak extending further to 1972). Hungary had also won in 1908 and 1912; the streaks might have been 12 and 15 if the nation had not been excluded from the Games in 1920 due to its role in World War I.
Hungary sent two gymnasts to the first Games in 1896; they did not medal.
Hungary first competed in swimming at the inaugural 1896 Games, with one swimmer (Alfréd Hajós) winning gold medals in both of the events he entered. Hungary also had one swimmer in 1900 taking a medal in every event he entered (Zoltán Halmay, with 2 silvers and a bronze). Hungary has won the fourth-most gold medals of any nation in swimming (28) and sixth-most total medals (73).
Hungary first competed in weightlifting at the inaugural 1896 Games, with one lifter competing in one event.
Hungary first competed in wrestling at the inaugural 1896 Games, with one wrestler competing in the open weight class event.
Hungary first competed in tennis at the inaugural 1896 Games, with one player in the men's singles earning a bronze medal. It remains (through the 2016 Games) the only tennis medal won by Hungary.