József Katona (swimmer)

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

József Katona (12 September 1941 – 26 December 2016)^[1] was a freestyle swimmer from Hungary, who competed in two consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1960.^[2]

József Katona

Personal information
Full name	József Katona
Nationality	Hungary
Born	(1941-09-12)12 September 1941 Eger
Died	26 December 2016(2016-12-26) (aged 75)
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	76 kg (168 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	freestyle
Club	Egri Vasas SC
Medal record European Championships (LC) 1962 Leipzig 1500 m freestyle 1958 Budapest 1500 m freestyle 1958 Budapest 4×200 m freestyle

Katona was born in Eger, Heves, Hungary. As a 17-year-old, Katona represented his country at the 1958 European Aquatics Championships which were held in Budapest, Hungary. In the 1500 metres he came second behind Ian Black to win the silver medal, and also won a team bronze medal in the 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay. Four years later in Leipzig at the 1962 European Aquatics Championships, Katona returned home with a gold medal in the 1500 metres freestyle.^[3] At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Katona reached the final of the 1500 metre freestyle where he finished in 5th place, but in the 400 metre freestyle and 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay he failed to qualify from the first round heats.^[4] Four years later at the 1964 Summer Olympics it was the same pattern, he failed to reach the finals in the 400 metre freestyle or the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, but in the 1500 metre freestyle he managed to finish eighth in the final.^[4]

Katona was also a national water polo player and was capped 17 times. He would later become a physical education teacher and eventually was the president of the Egri Swimming Club.^[4]

References

1. József Katona's obituary (in Hungarian)
2. Katona's entry on www.sports-reference.com; retrieved 2011-07-07
3. "European Swimming Championships (Men)". gbrathletics.com. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
4. "Jozsef Katona". olympedia.org. Retrieved 14 June 2020.