Krisztina Egerszegi

Krisztina Egerszegi

Personal information
Full name	Krisztina Egerszegi
Nickname	Egérke (Mouse)
Nationality	Hungary
Born	(1974-08-16) 16 August 1974 Budapest, Hungary
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Weight	57 kg (126 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke, individual medley
Club	Budapest Spartacus SC
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Hungary Olympic Games 1988 Seoul 200 m backstroke 1992 Barcelona 100 m backstroke 1992 Barcelona 200 m backstroke 1992 Barcelona 400 m medley 1996 Atlanta 200 m backstroke 1988 Seoul 100 m backstroke 1996 Atlanta 400 m medley World Championships 1991 Perth 100 m backstroke 1991 Perth 200 m backstroke 1994 Rome 200 m backstroke European Championships (LC) 1991 Athens 100 m backstroke 1991 Athens 200 m backstroke 1991 Athens 400 m medley 1993 Sheffield 100 m backstroke 1993 Sheffield 200 m backstroke 1993 Sheffield 200 m butterfly 1993 Sheffield 400 m medley 1995 Vienna 200 m backstroke 1995 Vienna 400 m medley 1989 Bonn 100 m backstroke 1989 Bonn 200 m backstroke 1989 Bonn 400 m medley 1995 Vienna 4×100 m medley

The native form of this personal name is Egerszegi Krisztina. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Krisztina Egerszegi (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈkristinɒ ˈɛɡɛrsɛɡi]; born 16 August 1974 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian former world record holding swimmer and one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era. She is a three time Olympian (1988, 1992 and 1996) and five time Olympic champion; and one of two individuals to have ever won the same swimming event at 3 consecutive Summer Olympics.

She held the world record in the long course 200 m backstroke for almost 17 years (August 1991-February 2008), after setting it at the 1991 European Championships (2:06.62). As of June 2009, that time remains the European and Hungarian records. It is the oldest record on the European list, and the second-oldest on the Hungarian list—Egerszegi's former world record in the 100 m backstroke (1:00.31), set 3 days prior to the 200 m backstroke, is the oldest.

Biography

She made her international debut at the 1987 European Aquatics Championships at the age of 13, coming fourth in the 200 m backstroke and fifth in the 100 m backstroke.

At the 1988 Summer Olympics she won silver medal in the 100 m backstroke and became Olympic champion in the 200 m backstroke. At the age of 14 years and 41 days she became the youngest-ever female Olympic champion in swimming. This youth record was broken in 1992 by Kyoko Iwasaki of Japan.

At the 1989 European Aquatics Championships she competed in three events adding the 400 m medley to the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, winning silver medal in all three events.

In 1991 she competed at the World Championships winning the gold medal in both backstroke events. Few months later at the European Championships she won three gold medals and set World records in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke event.

At the 1992 Summer Olympics she won three individual gold medals, becoming the only female athlete at the Games to do so. The next year at the European Championships she competed in the 200 m butterfly for the first time and went on to win four gold medals also winning the 400 m medley and the 100 m and 200 m backstroke.

In 1994 she announced that she would retire after the World Championships. After getting a disappointing fifth place in the 100 m backstroke and coming second in the 200 m backstroke she decided to compete for two more years, citing the two defeats as the main reason.

She competed at the 1995 European Aquatics Championships where she won the last two of her nine European titles in the 400 m medley and the 200 m backstroke event. For the first time, she competed in the 4x100 m medley relay where one of her teammates was a young Ágnes Kovács, a future Olympic champion. They came second and Egerszegi has named this silver medal as 'the one that made her the happiest'. She decided not to compete in the 100 m backstroke even though her time of 1:00.93 clocked during the 4x100 m relay final was better than Mette Jacobsen's winning time of 1:02.46 by almost two seconds.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics she won her first and only Olympic bronze medal in the 400 m medley and went on to win the 200 m backstroke becoming the second of only two swimmers in Olympic history (Dawn Fraser being the other) to win gold for the same event at three successive Olympics (200 m backstroke: 1988, 1992, 1996). Between 1988 and 1996 she won 5 Olympic gold medals, which was a record for a swimmer for individual gold medal wins. This record has since been broken by Michael Phelps, who has to date won 9 individual gold medals. Egerszegi announced her retirement from swimming soon after the Olympic games, at the age of only 22.

Her nickname was "Egér" ("Mouse"), a play on her surname, because of her youthfulness and physical size.

She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2001. She was named Hungarian Sportswoman of the year on seven occasions.

Impact on Hungarian culture

Her 1988 winning in Seoul became one of the biggest TV-moments in Hungary. The infamous phrase "Come on Mouse, come on little girl" by Tamás Vitray, who was the speaker on the air, is part of the popular culture. Egerszegi is still regarded as the role model of the "champion" in the country.

In 2000 a documentary film called Egerszegi was made about her swimming career.

See also

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists in one event
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists

References

• Krisztina Egerszegi Fansite
• Krisztina Egerszegi - IOC website