Hungarian Olympic Committee 125 Years Old

The Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) celebrates the 125th anniversary of its foundation this month. It was established at the meeting of a committee made up of the officials of Budapest sports clubs on December 19, 1895.

Hungary's national Olympic Committee was the sixth in the world to be formed, following the French, Greek, American, German and Austrian Olympic committees.

HOC's founding president, Albert Berzeviczy, was Minister of Culture in the first government of István Tisza, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and that of the National Gymnastics Association.

The HOC is one of the oldest NGOs still operating today. Hungary has been an active member of the Olympic family since the beginning of the modern Olympic movement. Through Ferenc Kemény who had an excellent relationship with the initiator of the revival of the Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, Hungary was represented at the founding of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894. Today, the IOC has 206 member states – an impressive number that illustrates Hungary's pioneering activity in the Olympic movement.

Over these 125 years, Hungarian athletes have won 502 Olympic medals, including 177 gold.