1952 Helsinki Olympic Experience
Helsinki 1952 Poster
I’m in Toronto right now. I flew here yesterday for Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Council meetings (renamed today Athletes’ Commission). I’ve gone to www.offsetters.ca and calculated my carbon emissions for the trip (2.8 tonnes CO2); it only cost $70 to offset.
When I landed I hooked up with fellow Canadian Olympic rower Adam Kreek. Suddenly we were heading to the Argonaut Rowing Club’s annual awards banquet as guest speakers. We arrived at the club and immediately meet their eldest active member. At 89, Steve Sandor still rows his single, self-admittedly shorter distances than years past. Mr. Sandor and I spoke at length. As it turns out, Mr. Sandor is a Hungarian Olympic rower from 1952. In the course of our conversation he remembered to me, with great detail, the events that took him and his Hungarian crew mates from 1948 through to the ‘52 Helsinki Olympic Games.
At that time there were two rival rowing clubs in Budapest, one made up of only card-carrying Communists and his, an open mix of Party Members and non-party members alike; each vying to race the eight in Helsinki. Mr. Sandor’s story included stroke by stroke accounts of critical races against the communist club and a challenge race the Olympic year against the Germans. He recited precise measurements of his secret tactic to increase the size of his club’s blade surface area. He still held on to the exact weights of their hull, the brass oarlocks, seats and slides. In part because he so adamantly disagreed with the extra weight the strong ‘communist-designed’ boat carried. He said “We carried two coxswains”.
Rowers at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
It turns out the Hungarian Communist Party wanted to promote the strength of Party Values and their Communist Brothers at the games in Helsinki. Allegedly, Party Officials made every effort to disadvantage Mr. Sandor’s club in the selection process. Mr. Sandor’s club was faster though, and had been in smaller boats for years. Then, finally in late 1951 and throughout the 1952 season, they had the faster eight too.
As club captain Mr. Sandor requested a meeting with top Party Officials in order to clarify the selection process. Mr. Sandor and his crew were granted an audience, but they were told that only the three card-carrying Party Members were allowed to speak. It became clear to Mr. Sandor that the conversation was not going well and he could only sit quietly for so long. He told me that he stood up and bellowed “COMRADES”, because that was a sign of respect to Party Ideology, and from the far end of the table he continued in a level, calm voice “Will the fastest crew or the Communist crew race for Hungary in Helsinki?” Put that way, the Party Brass was backed into a corner. They agreed to race a best-of-three selection process between the two clubs; the fastest crew would race in Helsinki. A week later Mr. Sandor’s crew won the first two races and was selected to represent Hungary at the 1952 Olympic Games.
Opening of the 1952 Olympic Games
Years later, at a party, after the fall of communism in Hungary, Mr. Sandor saw those same ex-party officials he had stood up to in 1952. With great respect the men retold the story of Mr. Sandor’s passion and bravery for everyone to hear. Now, 57 years later, I’ve been inspired by his story.
[Olympic] Dreams are worth fighting for, worth sticking your neck out for, and can only be realized by unwavering self-belief and commitment. Mr. Sandor embodies inspiring Olympic values. If the young rowers I chatted with last night at the Argonaut Rowing Club learn these values from Mr. Sandor now, they will be formidable at everything they do in life.
Dave
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What an inspiring story! Good for Mr. Sandors. I have watched many Olympic games and the athletes that compete seem very committed and driven. I think everyone should remember this in their day to day lives.
cool story. you will have a cool story to tell when you are that age – if you make it that long – ha ha!