Áron Szilágyi

Áron Szilágyi
Szilágyi at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest
Personal information
Born	(1990-01-14) 14 January 1990 (age 34) Budapest, Hungary
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	78 kg (172 lb)
Sport
Country	Hungary
Sport	Fencing
Weapon	Sabre
Hand	right-handed
National coach	András Decsi
Club	Vasas
Former coach	Béla Somlai, György Gerevich
FIE ranking	current ranking
Medal record Men's sabre Representing  Hungary Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 0 1 World Championships 3 4 5 European Championships 3 3 3 Total 9 7 9 Olympic Games 2012 London Individual 2016 Rio de Janeiro Individual 2020 Tokyo Individual 2020 Tokyo Team World Championships 2007 Saint Petersburg Team 2022 Cairo Individual 2023 Milan Team 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team 2017 Leipzig Team 2019 Budapest Team 2022 Cairo Team 2009 Antalya Team 2013 Budapest Individual 2014 Kazan Team 2018 Wuxi Team 2023 Milan Individual European Games 2023 Kraków–Małopolska Individual European Championships 2015 Montreux Individual 2018 Novi Sad Team 2022 Antalya Team 2013 Zagreb Team 2017 Tbilisi Individual 2019 Düsseldorf Team 2011 Sheffield Individual 2015 Montreux Team 2017 Tbilisi Team

Áron Szilágyi (Hungarian: [ˈaːron ˈsilaːɟi]; born 14 January 1990) is a Hungarian right-handed sabre fencer.^[1]

Szilágyi is a 2018 team European champion, 2015 individual European champion, 2007 team world champion, and 2022 individual world champion.

A four-time Olympian, Szilágyi is a three-time individual Olympic champion and 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist. Szilágyi competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

In Tokyo, Szilágyi became the only male fencer in history to win three individual Olympic gold medals.^[2]

Szilágyi has served as the president of the Vasas Sport Club Fencing Division since 2020.^[3][4]

Career[edit]

Szilágyi began fencing at age nine at Vasas SC in Budapest, which remains his club as of 2015^[update].^[5] His first coach was György Gerevich, whom he considers as his personal hero alongside György's father, seven-time Olympic champion Aladár Gerevich.^[5]

While he was still a cadet, Szilágyi joined the senior Hungarian team for the 2007 World Fencing Championships in Saint-Petersburg. Hungary won their first gold medal in men's sabre since 1998 after defeating France 45–43. For this performance, Tamás Decsi, Balázs Lontay, Zsolt Nemcsik and Áron Szilágyi were named Hungarian team of the year.^[6]

He competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing 15th in the individual event and 7th in the team event. He earned team bronze in the 2009 World Fencing Championships in Antalya, and placed third in the individual event of the 2011 European Fencing Championships in Sheffield.

The only Hungarian to qualify to the men's sabre event of the 2012 Summer Olympics, he was seeded no.5. In the table of 16 he defeated 2008 Olympic champion Zhong Man of China, then overcame Germany's Max Hartung and Russia's Nikolay Kovalev to reach the final. After taking an early 7-0 lead over Italy's Diego Occhiuzzi, Szilágyi closed the match on 15–8 to win Hungary's first gold medal in the London games.^[7]

Szilágyi featured on the official poster and video campaign of the 2013 World Fencing Championships held in his home city, Budapest.^[8] He was defeated in the semi-finals by Nikolay Kovalev and took the bronze medal. In the team event, Hungary was eliminated in the table of 8 by Romania and finished 7th after the ranking matches. Szilágyi finished the season world no.2, a career best as of 2015^[update].

In the 2014–15 season Szilágyi claimed his first continental title in Montreux, after prevailing over Max Hartung despite a right-ankle injury.^[9] Hartung took his revenge in the 2015 World Fencing Championships by defeating Szilágyi in the quarter-finals of the individual event.

After the competition Szilágyi announced that he would prepare for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with András Decsi, Singapore's national coach and elder brother to Szilágyi's teammate Tamás.^[10] He won his second gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, defeating Daryl Homer 15-8 in the final.^[11]

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Szilágyi won his third gold medal, defeating Luigi Samele 15-7 in the final.^[2]

He won the gold medal in the men's sabre event at the 2022 World Fencing Championships held in Cairo, Egypt.^[12]

Medal record[edit]

Olympic Games[edit]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2012	London, United Kingdom	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[13]
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[14]
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[15]
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Team Men's Sabre	3rd[16]

World Championships[edit]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2007	St. Petersburg, Russia	Team Men's Sabre	1st[17]
2009	Antalya, Turkey	Team Men's Sabre	3rd[18]
2013	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[19]
2014	Kazan, Russia	Team Men's Sabre	3rd[20]
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Team Men's Sabre	2nd[21]
2017	Leipzig, Germany	Team Men's Sabre	2nd[22]
2018	Wuxi, China	Team Men's Sabre	3rd[23]
2019	Budapest, Hungary	Team Men's Sabre	2nd[24]
2022	Cairo, Egypt	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[25]
2022	Cairo, Egypt	Team Men's Sabre	2nd[26]

European Championship[edit]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2011	Sheffield, United Kingdom	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[27]
2013	Zagreb, Croatia	Team Men's Sabre	2nd[28]
2015	Montreux, Switzerland	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[29]
2015	Montreux, Switzerland	Team Men's Sabre	3rd[30]
2017	Tbilisi, Georgia	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[31]
2017	Tbilisi, Georgia	Team Men's Sabre	3rd[32]
2018	Novi Sad, Serbia	Team Men's Sabre	1st[33]
2019	Düsseldorf, Germany	Team Men's Sabre	2nd[34]
2022	Antalya, Turkey	Team Men's Sabre	1st

Grand Prix[edit]

Date	Location	Event	Position
2008-06-21	Las Vegas, Nevada	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[35]
2009-05-29	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[36]
2010-03-21	Tunis, Tunisia	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[37]
2010-05-28	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[38]
2012-03-03	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[39]
2013-03-09	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[40]
2014-03-08	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[41]
2014-12-13	New York, New York	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[42]
2015-05-29	Moscow, Russia	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[43]
2015-12-12	Boston, Massachusetts	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[44]
2017-06-02	Moscow, Russia	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[45]
2017-12-15	Cancún, Mexico	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[46]
2018-03-30	Seoul, South Korea	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[47]
2019-02-22	Cairo, Egypt	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[48]
2019-04-26	Seoul, South Korea	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[49]
2022-05-20	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[50]
2022-12-08	Orléans, France	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[51]

World Cup[edit]

Date	Location	Event	Position
2008-01-19	Istanbul, Turkey	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[52]
2011-04-28	Athens, Greece	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[53]
2012-06-22	Chicago, Illinois	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[54]
2013-02-08	Madrid, Spain	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[55]
2013-02-15	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[56]
2013-04-26	Athens, Greece	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[57]
2013-05-03	Chicago, Illinois	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[58]
2014-02-14	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[59]
2014-04-25	Athens, Greece	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[60]
2014-11-21	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[61]
2015-02-20	Warsaw, Poland	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[62]
2016-01-29	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[63]
2017-02-24	Warsaw, Poland	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[64]
2017-05-19	Madrid, Spain	Individual Men's Sabre	3rd[65]
2018-02-02	Padua, Italy	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[66]
2019-05-10	Madrid, Spain	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[67]
2020-02-21	Warsaw, Poland	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[68]
2020-03-06	Luxembourg	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[69]
2021-03-11	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	2nd[70]
2022-03-18	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[71]
2022-05-08	Madrid, Spain	Team Men's Sabre	2nd[72]
2023-02-12	Warsaw, Poland	Team Men's Sabre	2nd[73]
2023-03-04	Padua, Italy	Team Men's Sabre	1st[74]
2023-03-25	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Men's Sabre	1st[75]
2023-03-26		Team Men's Sabre	3rd[76]

Personal life[edit]

Szilágyi studied international relations at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.^[5] Beside his degree in international relations, he also holds a degree in psychology from Károli Gáspár University.^[77]

In 2017 he got married to his long-time girlfriend, Betti.^[78] Their son was born in 2023.^[79]

Awards[edit]

• Hungarian Sportsman of the Year: 2016, 2021
• Hungarian Junior fencer of the Year: 2006, 2009
• Junior Príma award (2010)
• Hungarian Fencer of the Year (6): 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021
• Honorary Citizen of Budapest (2012)
• FIE Fair Play Award: 2019

Orders and special awards

• Officer's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit (2012)
• Commander's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit (2016)
• Grand Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit (2021)
• Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen (2023)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Áron Szilágyi.

• Áron Szilágyi at the International Fencing Federation
• Áron Szilágyi at the European Fencing Confederation
• Áron Szilágyi at Olympics.com
• Áron Szilágyi at Olympedia
• Áron Szilágyi at the Hungarian Olympic Committee (in Hungarian)
• Profile at the European Fencing Confederation at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-03-07)
• Profile at MOL Csapat at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-03-05) (in Hungarian)

Awards
Preceded by László Cseh	Hungarian Sportsman of The Year 2016	Succeeded by Balázs Baji
Olympic Games
Preceded by Péter Biros	Flagbearer for  Hungary Rio de Janeiro 2016	Succeeded by Aida Mohamed & László Cseh