Hungary Hails Solidarity Of Sportsmen Who Boycotted 1956 Melbourne Olympics

  • 22 Nov 2016 8:00 AM
Hungary Hails Solidarity Of Sportsmen Who Boycotted 1956 Melbourne Olympics
Speaker of Parliament László Kövér on Monday met Dutch, Swiss and Spanish veteran athletes visiting Budapest who boycotted the 1956 Melbourne Olympics out of solidarity with Hungary due to its crushed anti-Soviet revolution. Hungary has organised programmes to thank the athletes who gave up their dreams after the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland withdrew in protest against the Soviet presence in the Games.

Eleven Dutch, one Spanish and one Swiss Olympian arrived in Budapest out of the 66 Swiss, 44 Dutch and four Swiss athletes who boycotted the event in 1956.

They are scheduled to visit the House of Terror museum on Tuesday and attend a conference organised in their honour at the Andrássy Gyula German-language University.

Later on Tuesday, they will be greeted by Hungarian Olympians at a gala evening.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Illyés Tibor

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