László Szollás

László Szollás
Szollás in 1935
Full nameLászló Szollás
Born(1907-11-13)13 November 1907
Budapest, Hungary
Died4 October 1980(1980-10-04) (aged 72)
Budapest, Hungary
Figure skating career
Country Hungary
Retired1936
Medal record
Representing  Hungary
Pairs Figure skating
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs
Bronze medal – third place 1932 Lake Placid Pairs
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1935 Budapest Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1934 Helsinki Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1933 Stockholm Pairs
Silver medal – second place 1932 Montreal Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1931 Berlin Pairs
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1934 Prague Pairs
Silver medal – second place 1931 St. Moritz Pairs
Silver medal – second place 1930 Vienna Pairs

László (Ladislaus) Szollás (13 November 1907 – 4 October 1980) was a Hungarian world champion and Olympic medalist pair skater.

Early life

Szollás was Jewish.[1][2][3][4] He attended the Ludovika Military Academy in the Horthy era.[citation needed].

Figure skating career

With partner Emília Rotter he won the World Figure Skating Championship four times in five years (1931, 1933, 1934, and 1935), and they were the 1932 World silver medalists.[5] They were also the 1934 European Champions, and 1930 and 1931 silver medalists.[5]

They represented Hungary at the 1932 Winter Olympics and at the 1936 Winter Olympics, winning two bronze medals.[5]

Later life

László Szollás commemorative plaque in Budapest District XII, Győri Street No 2/c

After retirement, Szollás attended Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest and earned a medical degree at the Péter Pázmány University.[6] He joined the military in 1934 and became a military doctor in 1936. From 1945 until 1948, he was a prisoner of war, first by the Americans and then later the Soviets.[7] Upon returning to Hungary the Hungarian Stalinist government nationalized nearly all of his assets, including a large rental apartment building in Budapest's 7th district.[citation needed].

Once he returned to Hungary, he spent a short time as a physician at Kossuth Academy, then in 1951 became a surgeon at the Országos Sportegészségügyi Intézet (National Institute of Sports Medicine) in Budapest. He also returned to skating as a coach and judge.[7] He coached the pair Marianna and László Nagy after their coach was imprisoned due to a skater's defection in 1950, and he served as President of the Hungarian Skating Association from 1956 to 1961.[8]

Hall of Fame

He and his partner, Emília Rotter, were elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.[4]

Competitive highlights

(with Rotter)

Event 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936
Winter Olympic Games 3rd 3rd
World Championships 5th 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st
European Championships 2nd 2nd 1st
Hungarian Championships 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st

See also

References

  1. ^ Wiener, Julie. "Jews in the Olympics". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  2. ^ Jews in the Gym: Judaism, Sports, and Athletics. Purdue University Press. 2012. ISBN 978-1-55753-629-7. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  3. ^ Bob Wechsler (2008). Day by Day in Jewish Sports History. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. ISBN 978-0-88125-969-8. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Laszlo Szollas". Jewishsports.net. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Hines, James R. (22 April 2011). Historical Dictionary of Figure Skating - James R. Hines - Google Books. ISBN 978-0-8108-7085-7. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  6. ^ Teréz, Baloghné Medvegy; Magasházyné, Székesvári Ildikó (2006). Molnár, László (ed.). A Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetem Orvostudományi Karán végzett orvostanhallgatók jegyzéke 1921-1951 [List of medical students who graduated from the Pázmány Péter University Faculty of Medicine 1921-1951] (in Hungarian). Budapest: Semmelweiss Publishing House. p. 164. ISBN 9789639214996.
  7. ^ a b Sallay, Gergely Pál (2012). "Magyar katonák az újkori olimpiai játékokon" [Hungarian Soldiers at the Modern Olympic Games] (PDF). Hadtörténelmi Közlemények (in Hungarian). 125 (2): 335–374.
  8. ^ "Jégtánc története" [History of figure skating]. Magyar Országos Korcsolyázó Szövetség (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2024-02-28.