Obituary: olympic champion Szilveszter Csollány passed away

At the beginning of December, we reported that Szilveszter Csollány had been infected with the coronavirus and was put on a ventilator in a severe condition in a Budapest hospital.

The gymnast won the Olympic title in Sydney in 2000 on rings, retired in 2003, and recently worked as a coach in Austria. The joint statement of the Hungarian Gymnastics Federation (MATSZ) and the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) is published below without any changes in content.

"The Hungarian Gymnastics Federation and the Hungarian Olympic Committee are deeply saddened to announce that Olympic, World and European champion gymnast Szilveszter Csollány has passed away at the age of 51.

The Olympic champion gymnast not only achieved outstanding results as an athlete but was also an excellent husband and father."

Several representatives of the sports world shared their shock with Nemzeti Sport.

"I'm heartbroken by this news, I'm crying, I can barely speak. We have lost a wonderful man, a fantastic athlete, which is a huge loss for Hungarian gymnastics and Hungarian sports life. It is painful that he left us at such a young age," – said Zoltán Magyar, a two-time Olympic champion Hungarian gymnast who was awarded the Athlete of the Nation.

"Unfortunately, Szilas is gone... I was shocked by the news and haven't woken up since. Szilveszter Csollány was my biggest role model. His Olympic gold medal made me realize that maybe I can reach the top, too. I was 15 years old at the time, and two years later, we were able to take the podium together as members of the Hungarian national team at the World Championships in Debrecen. Farewell, Szilas!" – said goodbye Krisztián Berki, Olympic champion, three-time World champion, and six-time European champion Hungarian gymnast.

"It's very hard to say anything — what can I say now that Szilas died... I hoped he would recover; it never occurred to me that he was leaving us... Many, many experiences and memories connect us, and not only in respect of the sport, because we, for example, won a Fisherman's soup cooking competition together. I was hoping to be together again, cook together again, to make things work out for the better. There is nothing more terrible than a parent burying their child, but I feel the same way because the many years we spent together have made me consider him as my child” – said István Vereckei, Szilveszter Csollány's coach.

Translated by Vanda Orosz.