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 Alfred
Hajos
The successes of Alfred Hajos in the Olympic swimming contests at the 1896 Athens Games made of him an athlete-symbol for Hungary and its sport, seeing that he  was the first Olympic winner of his country.
He was born in Budapest, on February 1, 1878. His real family name was Guttmann and he was of Jewish descent. From an early age swimming had become a way of living for Hajos. He was only thirteen years old, when his father had encouraged him to swim in the cold waters of Danube. In the years that followed his love and talent offered him many distinctions in national and international organizations. In 1895 he became champion of Hungary in the 100m freestyle and in the same year he won the first place at the European swimming championship in the same event.
Still, the distinction that made him one of the most important athletes worldwide came one year later, at the first Olympiad of recent times. In the cold waters of the Bay of Zea, where the Olympic swimming contests took place, the young Hungarian student (he was studying architecture in Budapest) became twice on the same day first Olympic winner in the 100m freestyle, (time 1.22.2), and in the 1200m freestyle, (time 18.22.2).
In the following years Hajos, besides swimming which remained his favourite sport, went in for football quite successfully. For three years (1901-1903) he had been a basic member of the national football team of his country.
But apart from his successes in sport, Hajos distinguished himself in his profession as well. Being an architect he had built remarkable sports sites, mainly swimming pools. He had even won a prize at the architecture contest in the Olympic Games of Antwerp (1920) and of Paris (1924).
He had been honoured particularly by his fellow countrymen but also by the international sports community both for his sports activity and architectural work. He died on 12 November 1955.
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