László CsehOLY (pronounced[ˈlaːsloːˈt͡ʃɛ]; born 3 December 1985) is a retired Hungarian competitive swimmer and six-time Olympic medalist. He is a 33-time European Champion. His father, László Cseh Sr., also represented Hungary at the Olympics in swimming. In 2020, Braden Keith of SwimSwam nominated him as number 1 within top 10 male swimmers who have never won Olympic gold.
Personal
The son of an Olympic swimmer, Cseh started swimming competitively at an early age. Cseh is coached by György Turi and Zoltán Nemes. He holds a scholarship with the Olympic Solidarity programme.
At the 2005 World Championships, Cseh not only improved his national records, he excelled further up in the world rankings, and entered the meet as a serious medal contender in 3 events. After Michael Phelps backed out of the 400 m individual medley, Cseh picked up his first gold medal at the world championships.
At the 2009 World Championships, Cseh was rushed to hospital on arrival in Rome, suffering from a stomach virus. A source close to the Hungarian team stated: "He has had to have re hydration and electrolyte drinks but is quite sick." He scratched his first event, the 200 m butterfly, however he did return to competition on day 4 setting a European record in the 200 m individual medley, swimming a touch slower the next night to capture silver, final night of competition saw him take bronze in the 400 m individual medley.
At the 2012 Olympics, he competed in 6 events: the 200 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley, 400 m individual medley, and the 3 relays. Cseh narrowly failed to reach the final of the 400 meter individual medley, coming in 9th position in the semi-finals. He finished 12th in the 200m butterfly. Cseh did add to his Olympic medal count with a bronze in the 200 meter individual medley, touching the wall in a time of 1:56.22, behind Phelps (gold – 1:54.27) and Lochte (silver – 1:54.90).
At the 2016 Olympics, he competed in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly, along with the 4 × 100 m medley relay.
In 100 m butterfly he finished 2nd along with rivals Michael Phelps and Chad le Clos, where Singaporean Joseph Schooling won the race with a new Olympic record. Cseh has now won Olympic silver medals in four different events, and he has also won individual medals in four different Olympics.
2020 Olympics
At the 2020 Olympics, Laszlo Cseh competed in his fifth and last Olympic games, entering in men's 200m IM only. The 35-year-old Hungarian stopped the clock in a time of 1:57.68 to finish 7th in the race, after the race he announced retirement from competitive swimming, ending his legendary career as 6-time Olympic medalist and 13-time World Champ medalist. [3]
Legend: ER – European record;NR – Hungarian record; Records not set in finals: h – heat;sf – semifinal;r – relay 1st leg;rh – relay heat 1st leg;b – B final;† – en route to final mark;tt – time trial
Legend: WR – World record;ER – European record;NR – Hungarian record; Records not set in finals: h – heat;sf – semifinal;r – relay 1st leg;rh – relay heat 1st leg;b – B final;† – en route to final mark;tt – time trial
World Records
Cseh has set 5 world records throughout his career. All of the records were individually set in a short course (25-meter) pool.