Hungary and IWF mourning one of their greatest
Imre Földi, first Olympic champion of Hungarian weightlifting, Sportsman of the Nation died shortly before his 79th birthday due on 8 May.
Földi medalled in three Olympic Games in the 56kg category: winning silver in 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico City, before finally winning gold in 1972 Munich, where he set a world record, one in his altogether 20 world records. He was six times world and ten times European champion. For a long time he was the only weightlifter in the world to have participated in 5 Olympic Games.
He was also successful as a coach of his daughter, Csilla Földi who collected 16 European champion gold medals.
In 2002 Imre Földi was awarded the Olympic Order and had Tatabánya’s Sports Hall being named after him in 2009. In 1993 he became a member of the Hall of Fame and in 2005 he was elected by the IWF among the Lifters of the Century .
With Földi’s death the weightlifting world lost one of its all-time greatest champions and Hungary its most successful weightlifter ever.
Our sympathy goes to the family and the Hungarian Weightlifting Federation.
