Fürjes acknowledged the team’s performance and thanked the fans for their support in Paris. Although the team didn’t bring home the same number of golds as earlier in sports such as canoeing and kayaking, water polo or wrestling, there were “surprises”, too, such as in Taekwondo, he said.

Noting the uproar over the opening ceremony, Fürjes said the event should have been “free of offense” and observed “mutual respect as a fundamental value”.

Fürjes said he would initiate a review of rules on equal opportunity for female athletes to ensure that competitors “with male-type chromosomes” could not compete with women “as happened in women’s boxing”.

Fürjes said he was confident that Hungary could host an Olympic event similar to that in Paris. “It would take a huge effort, but the most important thing would be the need for solidarity, which is why I am a bit sceptical,” he added.

He said “full agreement” on the matter between the Hungarian Olympic Committee, the mayor and municipal council of Budapest, the political parties, the government or the nation in general was “not yet apparent”.

“If they could come together and put aside their differences on this issue, accord could be reached and we would have a shot at hosting the next European Olympics in Hungary,” he said.

Is Hungary a Global Sporting Power?

Hungary remains a ‘global sporting power’, the foreign minister declared after the conclusion of the Paris Olympics.

As a country with the 95th largest population in the world, Hungary has finished in 14th place at the Paris Olympic Games, Péter Szijjártó noted on Facebook, adding that in terms of the number of medals won in Paris, Hungary ranks sixth in Europe and the first among central European countries.

He added that “countries much larger … richer and stronger are far behind”.

Szijjártó also said that the first 10-12 places at the Olympics “are usually booked by the world’s largest and strongest countries … the G7, China, Korea, and Australia — and of course Russia, if they are allowed to compete”.

“We have finished in the vanguard of this competition in the company of New Zealand, Uzbekistan and Spain.”

Szijjártó noted that Hungary is one of fifteen countries to have won at least five gold medals.

“Glory at all levels,” he said, thanking all Hungary’s athletes and trainers for helping the country again to “this glorious achievement”.

Hungary won 6 gold, 7 silver, and 6 bronze medals, finishing in 14th place on the medal table, up from 15th in Tokyo.

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