György Zala

György Zala (born January 19, 1969 in Lendava) is a Slovenia sprint canoeist who competed from 1989 to 2001.

György Zala
Medal record
Men's canoe sprint
Olympic Games
1992 BarcelonaC-1 1000 m
1996 AtlantaC-1 1000 m
World Championships
2001 PoznańC-4 200 m
2001 PoznańC-4 1000 m
1989 PlovdivC-4 500 m
1990 PoznańC-1 1000 m
1995 DusiburgC-4 1000 m
2001 PoznańC-4 500 m
1990 PoznańC-2 500 m
1998 SzegedC-2 1000 m

Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won two bronze medals in the C-1 1000 m event, earning them in 1992 and 1996.

Zala, a hyperactive child, took up canoeing at the age of 11. A great natural athlete despite suffering from asthma, it seemed he was only truly motivated by the Olympics. Between Olympiads he tended to fall out of sight, focussing instead on his other passions such as extreme sports.

It was not until later in his career that he won any world or European championship titles. He took to his new role as the "old man" of the Hungarian four-man crew with enthusiasm, helping his younger teammates to victory in the C-4 1000 m event at the 2000 European Championships in Poznań. The following year he returned to Poznań, this time for the world championships and, despite injury, won two golds (C-4 200 m and C-4 1000 m). Zala also won six additional world championship medals with four silvers (C-1 1000 m: 1990, C-4 500 m: 1989, 2001; C-4 1000 m: 1995) and two bronzes (C-2 500 m: 1990, C-2 1000 m: 1998).

He is 173 cm (5'8) tall and raced at 84 kg (185 lbs).

References

  • ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936–2007 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2010-01-05). Additional archives: Wayback Machine.
  • ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007 at WebCite (archived 2009-11-09)
  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "György Zala". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.