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Baji and Hosszú crowned Sportspeople of 2017

24 Jan. 2018.

Thursday evening saw the presentation of the most important sporting prizes of 2017 as part of the 60th 'M4 Sport – The Sportspeople of the Year Awards' Gala held at Budapest' National Theatre. The event, organised by the Hungarian Sports Journalists' Association (MSÚSZ), saw Balázs Baji take the Sportsman of the Year award while swimmer Katinka Hosszú was voted Sportswoman of the Year for the sixth time.

Baji earned his prize having taken the 110 metre hurdles bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships in London last year, in the process becoming the first Hungarian in democratic times to step onto the podium in an athletics event. He followed this up by winning the Universiade tournament, also known in some circles as the World Student Games. Baji congratulated all the award winners and the other two podium finishers in the men's category, fencer András Szatmári and short-course speed-skater Sándor Liu Shaolin."All of us are tremendous sportspeople so this is huge recognition for me", he emphasised. 



In the women's category, three-time Olympic champion Hosszú was honoured thanks to her two golds and one silver medal at the FINA World Championships in Budapest last year as well as her all-conquering performance in the European Short-course Swimming Championships in Copenhagen in December where she won all six events she entered. This is the sixth time Hosszú has been crowned Sportswoman of the Year and draws her even closer to the record currently held by fellow swimmer, the now-retired Krisztina Egerszegi on seven wins.

Katinka Hosszú receives her award from nine-time tennis Grand Slam tournament winner Monica Seles.
"It a great honour to shake hands with Monica Seles", Hosszú explained, after also receiving the European Sportswoman of the Year award - as voted for by the members of AIPS Europe, the continent's sports journalists' association -  from MSÚSZ President György Szöllősi. "The World Championships at home was the best moment of my life, the peak of my career and something I'll never forget". Hosszú's coach and husband Shane Tusup was once again victorious in the Coach of the Year category and afterwards spoke in Hungarian to ask to be excused by anyone he had hurt or offended with his past behaviour when he had been tired, exhausted or simply prone to making mistakes.
"During the huge amount of work I had, I didn't recognise that I needed to accept I was a role model as I had been in the past but the role of which I was not fulfilling now", Tusup explained. He then thanked his wife Katinka Hosszú for believing in him then when no one else did. "The world championships was an even bigger wonder than the Olympics had been but it was also more difficult to achieve (our aims) there", the American coach emphasised. "Thank you to those who think I deserve this award for a fourth time  - I think there were more professional reasons for this than sympathy. This year I am going to work to change this. Thank you, Hungary!".
The team of the year amongst traditional team sports was announced as being women's handball Champions' League winners and Hungarin champions Győri Audi ETO KC, an award which Sports Minister Tünde Szabó presented. The team of the year accolade for sports which are more traditionally played on an individual basis was claimed by Hungary's Davis Cup tennis team, made up of Attila Balázs, Márton Fucsovics, Zsombor Piros, Levente Gödry and Gábor Borsos, the most votes heading their way courtesy of a return to tennis' World Group, comprised of the world's best 16 teams, for the first time since 1996. Hungary head coach Gábor Köves accepted the prize on his players' behalf.



In the Women's Footballer of the Year category it was VfL Wolfsburg striker Zsanett Jakabfi who took the plaudits thanks to another superb campaign at the highest level of club football, the German league and Cup titles heading her club's way while Jakabfi became the UEFA Women's Champions' League's joint top goalscorer for the 2016/17 season. The Hungary international forward won the award with a dominant 999 points, far ahead of runner-up Henrietta Csiszár and Fanni Vágó in third.

In the men's category, the American MLS league's most prolific goalscorer this season, Nemanja Nikolic of Chicago Fire, was voted Footballer of the Year ahead of RB Leipzig goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi and Honvéd's Italian striker Davide Lanzafame. The award was presented by four-time Olympic gymnastics champion Katalin Szabó who was born in Transylvania. "It's a great honour to celebrate alongside such a role model and a great champion. Last year, I ventured into the unknown and I'm happy that I found my place in America. This year, my aims will be no different; to become the MLS's top goalscorer and to be successful with the Hungarian national team", Nikolic concluded.

The Goal of the Year winner is Ferencváros' Joseph Paintsil for his spectacular finish to a counter-attacking move stretching nearly the length of the pitch against Videoton in Hungary's OTP Bank Liga (the link to the goal).


The final football award of the evening was the Lifetime Achievement honour, this year awarded to one of the greatest Hungarian defenders of all-time, Kálmán Mészöly of Vasas SC. The former national-team player and head coach was accompanied on the stage by his son Géza and and presented with the award by MLSZ Vice President Sándor Berzi.
As both a footballer and a head coach, 76-year-old Kálmán Mészöly featured 61 times for the Hungarian national team. The rock-solid defender was a quarter-finalist in both the 1962 and 1966 FIFA World Cups in Chile and England respectively. Between those two tournaments, he helped Hungary to bronze in the 1964 European Championships in Spain and was twice selected in European XIs in 1964 and 1972.

Mészöly had three periods as national team head coach in 1980–1983, 1990–1991 and 1994–1995 and is the only person in Hungarian football history to have represented the country at FIFA World Cups as a footballer (1962 and 1966) and as the head coach (1982). "Many times, I played in front of many people, in big stadia, but I didn't even receive such a reception as this here and such applause in my last match" Mészöly claimed as he fought back tears. He added that he would like to live to see the Hungary team reach another World Cup.



The recipient of the Hungarian Olympic Association and MSÚSZ's Lifetime Achievement accolade was three-time Olympic pentathlon champion András Balczó, the 'National Sportsman' receiving his award to a standing ovation from the audience. "This was a wonderful reception for me when arriving on stage. We need to look after our souls. If I know sportspeople, the essence is these three words; you receive your soul for strength, for love and for rationality" Balczó opined.

Coach of the Year amongst sports for those with disabilities went to wheelchair fencing coach Sándor Beliczay. In his speech, he emphasised that he dedicates his prize to seven-time world champion and Paralympic bronze-medallist fencer Gyöngyi Szalay who passed away on 30th December aged just 48. The team of the year amongst sportspeople with disabilities was declared to be the women's wheelchair-fencing team, from which Zsuzsanna Krajnyák won the women's individual prize, both these winners defending their titles from last year. The men's sportsman of the year with disabilities accolade went to Richárd Osváth.

All those recognised as winners received ZEMA-manufactured porcelain prizes decorated in 21-carat gold. "Sports education, the sporting community, sports national consciousness, sport's health and culture. Indeed, for us, for Hungarians it's even a little more than this", MSÚSZ President Szöllősi concluded. He also emphasised that all of the sportspeople who had been recognised over the 60 years of the award ceremony's existence and their achievements were still highly valued, respected and admired today. 


The full list of award recipients:
The M4 Sport – Sportspeople of the Year Gala Award Winners:
¦ Disabled Sportswoman of the Year: Zsuzsanna Krajnyák
¦ Disabled Sportsman of the Year: Richárd Osváth
¦ Disabled Sports Team of the Year: Women's wheelchair fencing national team (surnames first - Krajnyák Zsuzsanna, Dani Gyöngyi, Hajmási Éva, Veres Amarilla, Fóris Erika)
¦ The Coach of the Year for a Disabled Sportsperson: Sándor Beliczay
¦ Hungarian Goal of the Year (in football, as decided by public vote): Joseph Paintsil (Ferencváros, against Videoton FC)
¦ Women's Footballer of the Year: Zsanett Jakabfi
¦ Men's Footballer of the Year: Nemanja Nikolic
¦ Team of the Year in traditional team sports: a Győri Audi ETO handball team
¦ Team of the Year in traditionally individual sports: Tennis Davis Cup national team (surnames first - Balázs Attila, Fucsovics Márton, Piros Zsombor, Borsos Gábor, Gödry Levente)
¦ Coach of the Year: Shane Tusup
¦ The Sportswoman of the Year: Katinka Hosszú 
¦ The Sportsman of the Year: Balázs Baji
¦ The MLSZ Lifetime Achievement Award: Kálmán Mészöly
¦ The MSÚSZ and MOB Lifetime Achievement Award: András Balczó
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