Index – Sports – Hungarian coach helps his student win Olympic medal again

The elite canoeist won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, two third-place finishes at the Tokyo Five Rings Games, and then added a bronze medal to her medal arsenal at the Paris Games, following eight-time Olympic champion New Zealand canoeing queen Lisa Carrington and Hungarian ace Sipes in the end to finish third behind Tamara.

Stories of robbery and robbery

The Hungarian professional, who is about to turn 73, relived this experience for Index: Unable to resist the temptation, he also wanted to prove himself in Brazil, and two years later he had to pack his bags and leave for Budapest, and he did not forget about his family.

“There was also talent there, some of whom, like natural geniuses, were picked from the shanty towns of the favelas, the slums. At first, it seemed that the results would come within a single Olympic cycle. With my usual enthusiasm, I immediately noticed Isáquias Queiroz. Looking back, I also regret that he was the one who really got into it only after my return, and then was able to win medals in three consecutive Olympic Games. My enthusiasm waned when my monthly salary did not appear in my account, and when I mentioned this, stories of robbery and unacceptable explanations came. It turned out that the Brazilian Olympic Committee did not transfer the money to my account, but to the president of the local canoeing association, who then treated the money that belonged to me as his own. The false detentions and the rude recordings were repeated several times, and I became more and more angry because I felt vulnerable. It took a lot of effort to get the money from the president, but thinking about my family, I quickly ended my adventure in Brazil. I said goodbye to South America, completely at peace and with no lack of success” – Zoltán Bakó, who as an athlete did not have the luck to win two Olympic Games, recounted this strange and instructive story at the beginning of his speech in an interview with this newspaper.

“I was a young beginner canoeist in my early twenties when I qualified as an Olympian in Munich as part of a rookie four. I knew the standards were different in Hungary, but I was very proud of our sixth place, as the difference between a medalist and a scoring boat was minimal. Four years later, we already had a flag, which is why I was so annoyed when I had to see a doctor shortly before the Olympics because of a kidney spasm. At the Sports Hospital, they found that I had to have a non-small kidney stone or else I would have to have an operation. Uncle Richie, the name of the urologist who, for some reason, almost every elite athlete knows him, encouraged me to jump up the stairs and take big steps, as this would move the stone. Of course, things didn’t go as planned, and when I finally went to the toilet and left the hospital room, I had lost six kilos, which was obviously at the expense of my endurance. I tried to pull myself together, and in Montreal, I fought the way my teammates expected me to.”

All this was nothing compared to what happened to former world champion Zoltán Bakó at the Moscow Olympics, who was at the peak of his strength and experience.

“Trouble came suddenly like a bolt of lightning, in a harsh and terrible form. I had contracted meningitis from a mosquito bite, and as I was isolated in the infectious disease department of the Laszlo Hospital, I was terrified. Two months passed until the final report was handed to me, and all I could think about was that I had no luck at the Olympics, that fate had dealt me ​​a bad hand. I watched the Olympic finals on television, and I could not convince myself that it was worth starting the four-year journey all over again. Even so, one could only guess that the 1980 boycott would be followed by a counter-boycott, that Hungarian canoeists and kayakers would not be able to take to the water in Los Grunau, and that the Hungarian athletes would be disappointed, like us, in the friendly tournaments organized to replace the Olympics.”

He stands on several feet and switches well

His illness brought his retirement date forward by 29 years, and no one could tell him because he didn’t want to get slapped in the face again. You can count yourself lucky, there is a plan B, or even a plan C.

“I got a professional coaching diploma and improved my English, which is a bridge between the professional careers of players and coaches.” – Zoltán Bakó continues, following several retired competitors, he also tried his hand at shipbuilding, but his business success is more likely to be recorded in the gift shop market.

“The carriage was moving, we also started exporting, then the hypermarkets and the recession came. But we fished out quickly and skillfully before we lost everything. That’s when I realized that I didn’t have to sell the porter, but my own knowledge and experience, so I set out into the world and tested myself in three countries where foreigners had a much harder time than coaches who were born there.”

Zoltán Bakó does not say anything new, saying that in the countries he has visited as corps coach the chances of preparation are much less satisfactory than in Hungary, where sports are considered a strategic sector and where canoeing is also given special attention due to the effectiveness of kayaking and the size of the available budget, but he can still say something surprising.

Self-funded competition, no reward from coach

Zoltan Bakke points out that the customs in Denmark and Norway are different. Most of the competitors come to Norway from the workplace, undergo arduous training, and accept that they must compete as amateurs against those who already make a living from it.

My world and European champion student, two-time Olympic bronze medalist Emma Jörgensen, is proud to have learned the craft of interior painting and thereby to some extent secured her livelihood. Perhaps he will have better things to do in the future, because in the meantime he has also obtained a qualification that will allow him to lead classes in gyms and fitness centres, even during his racing career. Many people in Denmark have to wait months to find a qualified trainer to deal with them, rather than having to do the training themselves. There was a time when I was the only full-time trainer in Norway with 18 male and female competitors at the same time, and for eight years no one asked me if I could get along with them.

Zoltan Bako also mentioned that the Danish Sports Association has an annual budget of 500 million forints, with no other sources, and needs to cover the expenses of various projects and meet their needs for purchasing equipment, training camps and competitions.

“Hungarian athletes are lucky that their Olympic performances are recognized so generously, to a degree that cannot be compared with Danish standards. In this country, an Olympic champion receives a prize of about 5 million forints, which may net 2.8 million forints, but competitors are still satisfied with it. At the same time, coaches do not receive any rewards and say that they are paid for their work. On the other hand, our young or old athletes who want to go to training, sit on the boat and ask for help from their coaches have to pay for it. Two of my excellent players also started at the World Championships in Samarkand, Uzbekistan last week, competing in non-Olympic events, and one of them won a medal. He and his teammates have to cover half of the travel and accommodation costs, that is, they have to raise the equivalent of 2,500 euros.

Zoltan Bako added: He doesn’t complain about the world either, he just lives in Denmark with his family, his wife and his daughter Bori, who is about to take her matriculation exams.

I was given free reign, there was no tension during training, no one here dug or sucked anyone else’s blood. My family was reassured that if we wanted to go home or had something to do, we could reach Budapest in an hour and a half. From there, our journey led to their home near Lake Balaton, Balatonfőkajár, with 1,500 residents, which I usually called the island of tranquility.

– says Zoltán Bakó, who has not yet decided what the next four years will consist of.

It depends on whether 28-year-old Emma Jorgensen will stay with her (most likely…), but also on what vision the Danish sportswoman has for the future and what kind of motivation she can match it with.

Finally, the veteran professional even revealed that he often talks to the equally result-oriented and cheerful Ferenc Sipes, who had clashed at home before the Olympics, but the result in Paris ultimately vindicated his professional vision and decision. However, for Bako, it was unusual for the Hungarian national team to return home without a gold medal at the Olympics, thus missing out on the real big celebrations. Unlike in Denmark, where the leaders of the local association were jubilant after Emma Jorgensen finished third.

(Cover image: Emma Jörgensen of Denmark competes in the women’s 200m sprint canoe semifinal during day 11 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games canoeing competition at the Ocean Forest Waterway on August 3, 2021 .photo: Tom Wheeler/DeFodi Photos/Getty Images)

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