Blood in the water
Blood in the water: The 1956 Olympics in Melbourne
World News Australia Radio’s Janos Zoltan and Szilvia Malik Game report.
(TRANSCRIPT)
On the eve of the London Olympics, some Australians of
Hungarian origin have been reflecting on their involvement in Olympic drama in
Australia, more than half a century ago.
1956 was the year of the Melbourne Olympics, where an infamous ‘blood in the
water’ scene played out during the waterpolo semi-final between the Soviet
Union and Hungary.
The match symbolised what had happened in Budapest just weeks earlier, when Soviet
tanks had rolled in to end a short-lived revolution led by students.
When the Games were over in Melbourne, each member of the Hungarian Olympic
team faced a decision: should they go back to a Soviet-occupied Hungary, or
seek asylum?
This special feature by Janos Zoltan and Szilvia Malik Game.
(AUDIO: EGMONT OVERTURE)
REPORTER: On 23rd October, 1956, Hungarian university
students marched onto the streets of the capital, Budapest, to protest against
the pro-Soviet Communist government.
Popular support for the protest grew into what later became known as the
Hungarian Revolution.
Within days, Hungary had a new Prime Minister, Imre Nagy.
But after he declared that the country planned to leave the Soviet bloc, the
Soviet Union responded by sending in its army.
Less than two weeks later, after thousands of people had been killed, Imre
Nagy’s government had been overthrown, and the Soviet Union was in firm control
of the country.
The biggest wave of emigration in Hungary’s history had begun – with Australia
agreeing to take an initial batch of 10,000 refugees.
During the last few days of the revolution, Hungarian National Radio
continuously played Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.
(AUDIO: EGMONT OVERTURE)
REPORTER: Amid the turmoil in Hungary, the country’s
Olympic team chosen for the Melbourne Games had been quickly evacuated by the
Communist-led National Physical Education and Sports Committee.
The athletes boarded a bus and headed to Communist Czechoslovakia, spending a
couple of weeks in a training camp near Prague.
The sportsmen and women were unsure whether they would be able to continue
their planned trip to Australia.
There was nervousness in Czechoslovakia that members of the Hungarian team may
have brought with them, anti-Soviet revolutionary tendencies.
The Czechoslovak government provided the money to pay for two aircraft for the
Hungarians to leave.
After a draining week-long journey and several stop-overs, the team finally
arrived at Melbourne’s Essendon airport.
Hundreds of Hungarian-Australians were waiting to welcome them – and to urge
them to seek asylum in Australia.
When the local community members started singing the Hungarian national anthem,
the athletes became very emotional.
VOX POP: We arrived to Melbourne, we were sweaty, because we came from the
tropics. Our clothes were ill-fitting and then…there is this crazy crowd…and
then we can hear the Hungarian anthem.
VOX POP: I had a horrible fever. I was shivering whereas I was wrapped in two
blankets…and then we arrived and that respect that they welcomed us with, that
is what kept me going.”
VOX POP: …Hungarians. They all came and hugged us and we all had tears
running down on our cheeks…it was extremely moving…hmmm.
VOX POP: So all of the Hungarians at the airport started
singing the national anthem. And every single word of that anthem felt like a
stab on my heart….I cried…Agnes Keleti (who later won four gold medals) stood
next to me and she was weeping. It was mind-boggling.
VOX POP: Even if I just think about it, I get emotional. There are not many
important things in life. But this definitely was.
VOX POP: We were welcomed with an exceptional ovation.
There were girls there in Hungarian folk customs, and then they all started to
sing the Hungarian anthem.
REPORTER: Now 83 years old Ferenc Mohacsi, who won a bronze medal in kayaking
in the Melbourne Olympics, recalls he was even offered couple of jobs by the
local Hungarians.
FERENC MOHACSI: They immediately invited us to the Hungarian Club, where we met
up with Hungarians who immigrated here earlier. Many of them assured us that
they will support us if we decide to stay. I worked as a technician back at
home. I was invited to Ballarat to a Bowling Club, where I met a man. He said
he had a factory where I could work as a manager or if I do not want to do
that, I could become his wife’s chauffeur.
REPORTER: Other members also received generosity from the Hungarian
Australians.
VOX POP: Whatever we would want, they offered it to us. Cars, everything…
VOX POP: We got on the bus that took us to the Olympic village. People gave us
business cards, they pushed them through the bus windows. They urged us to call
them if we want them to come and get us.
VOX POP: Suddenly I noticed that someone put something into my hand. Back then
I had never seen a pound before, but when I looked down I saw that it was one
Australian pound. When we got to the Olympic village I told my kayaker partner:
look what I got! They put this into my hand. Then he turned to me and said:
because you were so nice and shared this story with me, I will let you know a
secret too. I got 5 pounds! So we put the money together and shared it.
REPORTER: Even before the Melbourne Olympics began, the Hungarian national flag
caused controversy in the Olympic village, in the suburb of Heidelberg, where
the athletes lived during the Games.
The Australian organisers were flying the flags of each participating nation in
the Olympic village as the teams started arriving.
When members of the Hungarian team support staff spotted the Hungarian flag,
featuring the hammer and sickle symbols of Communism, they were angry.
With the Hungarian athletes still in transit in Darwin, they decided to show
their sympathy with the revolution.
A recently declassified document from the Australian Security Intelligence
Organisation reveals what happened.
DOCUMENT TRANSCRIPT: Two transport drivers attached to the Hungarian Olympic
delegation this morning tore down the Hungarian Communist flag of Hungary. All
the leaders of the Hungarian delegation stood around and took no part in the
action. About ten members of the team cheered and sang the national anthem as
the new flag was hoisted. The action followed a telephone call from the
Hungarian team to their Chef de Mission in Darwin. An official statement at the
Village said that the replacement was made at the request of the Chef de
Mission.
REPORTER: When the leader of Hungary’s Olympic team landed in Melbourne he
ordered a new flag to be flown with the national coat of arms, instead of the
Communist symbols.
Years later, the two Hungarian flags that were flown at the Melbourne Olympics
came up for auction from the estate of the official who had been in charge of
the Olympic village, and who had kept them as souvenirs.
Laszlo Hody, who arrived to Melbourne in 1957 as a refugee, was one of the
members of the Hungarian-Australian community who helped to collect money to
buy them.
LASZLO HODY: Some of us here in the community, including myself, really wanted
to purchase them. We believed this was very important. We did not want to keep
them, but we wanted to send them back to Hungary. So we went to the auction and
some bidders came from overseas. They pushed the price up. We only planned to
spend 3500 dollars, because that is what people thought they would worth. But
in the end the price went up to 6000. Luckily there was a Hungarian who did not
wish to reveal his name and he matched the price, but only on one condition: if
the flags to be sent to Hungary.
REPORTER: Hody had represented Hungary in basketball in the 1952 Olympics in
Helsinki, and would have represented Hungary again at the 1956 Olympics.
However, a decision was made at the last minute not to send a team to
Melbourne, so instead, he went on to represent Australia at the 1964 Games in
Tokyo.
LASZLO HODY: They brought out individual athletes, who
cost less to win that gold, silver or bronze (instead of a team). So in 1956 I
was not participating at the Olympics. In 1960 I was not a citizen of any
country. I was in a limbo between Hungary and Australia. In 1962 in Baden-baden
the National Olympics Committee decided that everyone can compete at the Games
if they have been citizens of a country for at least 5 years. I applied for
naturalisation in 1959, I did not have to wait for 5 years they were happy with
3 years. In 1952 in Helsinki I was the youngest member of the Hungarian
basketball team and then in 1964 I was the oldest member of the Australian
basketball team. With my 29 years I had to baby all of my 19 year-old
teammates.
REPORTER: The Hungarian team flew their modified national flag at the Opening
Ceremony at the Melbourne Olympics and were welcomed with loud cheers from the
crowd.
Melbourne-based Istvan Gogolak was amongst the spectators.
ISTVAN GOGOLAK: Oh, the atmosphere was very good. The people could not wait for
the event to start. We were all so glad to see the teams marching in. Everyone
cheered for them (the Hungarians), because in Hungary there was a revolution,
so the crowd really supported the Hungarians. I was so proud that the
Hungarians were so respected, because of the revolution the Hungarian team was
really celebrated.
REPORTER: While the Hungarian athletes competed in Melbourne, their
counterparts from some other countries missed out – as their governments
protested over what had happened in Hungary.
The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland all boycotted the Melbourne Olympics,
because of the Soviet invasion of Hungary.
The relatively small Hungarian team ended up winning nine gold medals in
Melbourne.
The last of these was won by the waterpolo team on the 7th of December.
Just a day before, the Hungarian team successfully fought off the Soviets in
the semi-finals, where the infamous ‘blood in the water’ scene took place.
One of the Hungarian players emerged from the pool with blood streaming down
his face.
The match was a symbol of what had happened in Budapest weeks earlier.
Hungarian blood was shed by the Soviets.
But in the swimming pool in Melbourne, at least, the Hungarians claimed the
victory.
The Hungarian team ended the Games fourth on the medal tally, after the Soviet
Union, USA and Australia.
The champion Hungarian swimmer Eva Szekely had won gold in the women’s 200
metres breaststroke in the previous Games in Helsinki, four years
earlier.
She had been expected to win gold in Melbourne, too, but says she was
pre-occupied with worry about her two-year-old daughter back in Hungary, though
she did manage to win silver.
EVA SZEKELY: I had lost 6 kilos by the time I got to compete. We left our
daughter at home. We were both here. The child’s father was here, too…so it was
not easy. At home I was still swimming world records.
REPORTER: At the end of the Melbourne Games, confusing news from home made it
hard for the Olympians to decide whether to return to Hungary or seek asylum in
Australia.
Mr Imre Vagyóczky, one of the kayakers, wrote the following notes in his
diary.
DIARY RECORD: 5th December, 1956. I have seen a news film about Budapest. It
totally upset me. I am extremely nervous. The journalists constantly harass us
with their questions about what is happening at home. I refuse to talk to them.
There are many who want to stay here. I stayed up til very late. I cannot
sleep.”
In the end, out of the 111 Hungarian Olympians in Melbourne, almost half – a
total of 48 – decided not to return to home.
DIARY RECORD: 7th December, Friday. Today is the big
day. We are finally going home. I am so sick of the whole Olympics. Those who
decided to stay are: Karpati, Domján, Zádor, Jenei, Martin, Rerich, Magay,
Keresztes, Dömölki, Sákovits, Nagy Ambrus, Jekkelfalusy, Iglói, Babrián,
SzÅ‘ke, Gyenge, Ács, Záborszky…
REPORTER: Most of the Hungarian athletes who stayed in Australia used it as a
spring-board to get to America.
The United States accepted them with open arms, on the condition that their
state of origin was listed as the Philippines.
A declassified letter from the Australian diplomatic mission in Manila reveals
the following:
Written on the 12th December in 1956 by the Australian Legation in
Manila:
As you no doubt know, arrangements are being made to receive the number of
Hungarian Olympic athletes in the Unites States of America on a permanent
basis, in order to comply with the American law they will be brought here and
the Philippines will be their country of origin for the purpose of that law.
The law also provides that the country of origin must issue a certificate of
readmission if screening process should reveal that any person could not be
received in the USA.
REPORTER: Once in America, the Olympians were taken on a so-called: Hungarian
Freedom Tour, organised by the Sports Illustrated.
The athletes explained what the tour entailed.
VOX POP: So the question was: where are we going and what for?
VOX POP: A Hungarian who lived in America helped organise this very interesting tour.
VOX POP: They told us that the money we raised through this tour went to Hungarian refugees.
VOX POP: Back then, it was a big deal that you got to see America and you got to see all those places.
VOX POP: All in all we have seen the whole of America within three months.
VOX POP: In the beginning we did real fencing. But it was boring, no one cared about that. So in the end, we put on a real Hollywood show.
VOX POP: He flew in on a rope. Then he fought for me, using a sword. And I did some jumps on stage, like a gymnast.
VOX POP: In the end of the show I fell down and Hamori ran up to me with a sword to cut my head off or something like that and I shot him with a gun. This was the end of it.
VOX POP: So one of the men won and he hugged me and I
gave him a kiss.
REPORTER: Some Hungarian athletes who did not live in the Olympic Village were
oblivious to the Americans’ offer of a new life in the USA.
Cecila Hartmann Bourke, who competed as a kayaker at the Games, stayed in
Ballarat, where the kayaking and canoeing events took place.
Bourke believes the chance to travel to America or stay in Australia were
mostly offered to people who were not married or had no children.
CECILIA HARTMANN BOURKE: Yes, I did not know anything about it. It was so
hush-hush. So secretive. But later on I have learned that a lot of people were
offered places in America, especially the athletes and they promised that they
will take them around America and whatever money they will make, it is theirs.
I do not know how many of them, but kayakers, only one kayaker stayed here.
Zoli Szigeti, I met up with him later on. But no, I did not know anything about
it, I went home. I thought everybody goes home.
REPORTER: Bourke could not wait to reunite with her little boy and husband, so
got on a plane back to Hungary.
CECILIA HARTMANN BOURKE: We went separately, as soon as somebody finished the
sport they were in. I think there were two separate aeroplanes. Because
canoeing was the very last of it all, so I went with the last aeroplane. There
was talk about how we get home, but nothing about who is staying and who is
going.
REPORTER: When she arrived to Hungary Bourke reunited with her son and her
parents, only to find that her husband had defected.
She organised her own escape and met up with her husband in England, where they
settled for a while.
It took them six years, but with the help of a British Members of Parliament
they managed to get their son out of Hungary.
CECILIA HARTMANN BOURKE: Well, in that part my Olympic status did help. Because
when I went to the Member of Parliament, he was interested in that an Olympic
person is there in his area. Yes, that was very useful for me then, because
straight away he has done the work. It went on for 6 years, every six months I
sent this message that I want my son, but they rejected my claim. And when this
Member of Parliament helped, within two months my son was out.
REPORTER: However, a strange turn of fate brought Bourke and her family back to
Melbourne, where they have been living for the past five decades.
CECILIA HARTMANN BOURKE: When my son arrived I wanted to come back to
Australia, because I could not take the English weather. It was foggy and dark
and I liked to sunshine. I said to my husband, I want to come back to
Australia. And as British Citizens we had to pay ten pounds for each of us, so
we were the ten pound Poms.
Source: SBS RADIO
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