Alajos Szokolyi
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
 Alajos Szokolyi |
||
| Men's athletics | ||
Competitor for  Hungary |
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| Olympic Games | ||
| Bronze | 1896 Athens | 100 metres |
Alajos Szokolyi or Alajos Szokoly (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈɒlɒjoʃ ˈsokojɪ], June 19, 1871 – September 9, 1932) was a Hungarian athlete and physician from the Kingdom of Hungary. He competed in the 1896 Summer Olympics.
His father was József Szokolyi and his mother was Emília Holub. At the age of 3 he was adopted by his childless godparents in Ipolyság (today Šahy, Slovakia). He attended schools in Ipolyság, Selmecbánya (Banská Štiavnica) and Léva (Levice). In 1887 the family moved to their new mansion in Bernece. In 1889, he enrolled in the medical faculty in Budapest.
Szokolyi competed in the 100 metres. He came in second in the heats, with a time of 12.75, and advanced to the final. There, Szokolyi was one of four athletes to come in at 12.6 seconds. The officials ruled that he and Francis Lane of the United States, who had beat Szokolyi in the heats, had finished in a dead heat for third place; Alexandros Khalkokondilis of Greece was ruled to have been slightly behind them. Szokolyi and Lane are currently considered to split the bronze medal for the event (no medals were awarded at the 1896 Olympics) by the International Olympic Committee. Szokolyi placed fourth in the triple jump, with a best effort of 11.26 metres. He also ran the 110 metres hurdles. Sources differ as to whether Szokolyi placed second or third in his preliminary heat, with most claiming that he was in second until hitting the final hurdle and stumbling, allowing Frantz Reichel to pass him and take second place.
He retired in 1900 to his estate in Bernece, he married Sarolta (Charlotte) Berchtold of a magnate family with roots in Tyrol the same year. The couple had 5 children. Besides managing his estate, he became the archivist of Hont county and organised the medical service of the county during World War I. In 1928 he was diagnosed with atherosclerosis. He died of a heart attack in 1931.
