Pal Schmitt, Hungarian Olympian turned tainted president

Pal Schmitt, Hungarian Olympian turned tainted president

BUDAPEST - A double Olympic gold medal winner who became president of Hungary, Pal Schmitt reached the pinnacles of sport and politics only to be toppled by a grubby plagiarism scandal.

A member of Hungarian gold-medal epee teams at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, Pal Schmitt entered politics as secretary general of the Hungarian Olympic Committee in the 1980s

A member of Hungarian gold-medal epee teams at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, Schmitt entered politics as secretary general of the Hungarian Olympic Committee in the 1980s, at the tail-end of four decades of communism.

Since then, the 74-year-old's biography charts a mazy course through Hungarian politics.

Sport was never an end onto itself for Schmitt whose parents demanded "good results at school" and "insisted on learning music and foreign languages", he told AFP in his office in downtown Budapest.

But it dominated his daily routine from the age of 17 to 34, and taught him valuable lessons in "patience, perseverance, respect, and also how to cope with monotony, failures, and to shake the hand of an adversary".

"I can say with huge pride: I always was and always will be a team-player," said Schmitt, still athletic and trim.

- Government 'lackey' -

Schmitt became a household face in the 1980s when he fronted a daily gymnastics television programme, in a slot before the evening news on the country's only channel at the time.

After the transition from communism in 1990, he allied himself with Fidesz, the party of Viktor Orban, set up in opposition to the Hungarian Communist Party.

Schmitt served as Hungarian ambassador in Spain and in Switzerland, and the following decade became deputy president of Fidesz on whose party list he was elected to the European Parliament in 2009.

Shortly after Orban swept to power in 2010 with a commanding two-thirds parliamentary majority, Fidesz nominated Schmitt for the mostly ceremonial role of president.

By August that year, parliament elected him as Hungary's fourth post-communist head of state, but in contrast to his predecessor, Laszlo Solyom, who used his veto rights to block legislation, Schmitt promised to serve as a "motor" of government.

Schmitt rubber-stamped into law hundreds of bills adopted by parliament, often drawing scorn from the beleaguered opposition who called him Orban's "lackey".

Some of the bills -- including a controversial constitution, as well as new laws on media regulation and the central bank, and church recognition -- sparked protests in Budapest.-

- Quick downfall -

Schmitt's downfall, caused by a plagiarism scandal, came suddenly.

A Hungarian newspaper wrote in January 2012 that his 215-page-long university thesis, completed in 1992, had borrowed several sections from a book by a Bulgarian researcher.

A university investigating commission concluded that at least 180 pages had been "in large part" copied.

Despite the uproar, Schmitt hung on for months but finally resigned in April, "in the interests of Hungary and national unity," he said.

His departure was seen as a rare defeat for Orban.

These days, Schmitt prefers to reflect on his work on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that he has been a member of for more than 30 years.

On a display cabinet in his office sits a sculpture of cyclists whose wheels, from a certain angle, form the Olympic rings -- a facsimile of the original which is kept at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Schmitt is part of the bid team behind Budapest's candidacy for the 2024 Olympics hosting rights.

Up against Los Angeles, Rome, and Paris, the Hungarian capital faces a tall order to win.

"According to the traditions of rotation, it is Europe's turn to welcome the games in 2024, but Paris is the favourite, as is well known," he conceded, with a sporting smile.

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