Sarolta Monspart, the Athlete of the Nation, died on Saturday morning at the age of seventy-six.
According to the family, the running legend died after a long, serious illness.
Saroltá Monspart was proposed as a new member of their National Sportsmen's Association on March 31 last year, after the death of the Olympic gold medalist Éva Székely on February 29 left one of the twelve members vacant. On April 21, 2020, the first Hungarian world champion orienteer, one of the biggest figures in Hungarian amateur running, became an official member of the National Sports Association.
Sarolta Monspart was a 34-time orienteering Hungarian champion, but she also tried herself in cross-country skiing, in which she became national champion six times. At the 1970 orienteering world championship, he won a silver medal in the relay, but in 1972 he became the first Hungarian to win the individual world championship title. In 1976, he won a world championship bronze medal with the Hungarian orienteering relay team, and in the same year he became the first non-Scandinavian to win the five-day orienteering competition in Sweden, the O-Ringen.
He also achieved excellent results in marathon running. In 1972, she wrote domestic sports history when she started the marathon in Csepel, as women were not allowed to compete in the classic race until then. She not only ran the race, but also became the fastest female marathon runner in Europe with a time of less than three hours. Her time of 2:48:22 in 1976 was the Hungarian record until 1982.
Between 1980 and 1990, Monspart was the national team captain of the Hungarian orienteering team. In the 1990s, as a member of the board of the International Orienteering Association, he was responsible for the organization of elite programs - world championships, world competitions. In 2012, he was elected vice president of the Hungarian Olympic Committee. He worked at the National Health Development Institute, until October 2004 he was the president of the Miklós Wesselényi Sports Public Foundation, and between 2009 and 2011 he was the president of the National Leisure Sports Association.
"What I believed in became a reality," he told MTI last year, after he was named among the Athletes of the Nation.
It was known about Monspart Sarolta that although she had many awards and recognitions, she really wanted to be included among the Athletes of the Nation.
"I really have many awards, I love them all and I was happy with them, each of them encouraged me to achieve more goals. I wanted the title of Athlete of the Nation in particular, because in this way the non-Olympic sports are also represented by someone, which indicates the equality of top athletes," he explained his desire after his admission.
After her orienteering career, the popular Monspart Sarolta, who also worked as a coach and national team captain, compiled training plans for professional and amateur runners, constantly popularized exercise, organized sports for the elderly in the National Walking Seniors' Club Network (OGIK), highlighted a year ago that she feels the love of people, which it is also indicated by the many congratulations he received after his election.
"This recognition is the biggest positive stress bomb, the best medicine for my recovery, I have the strength to continue fighting. I am asking for God's help so that I still have time to start a couple of hundred walking clubs for the elderly in the country, I hope it will be possible from autumn," said Sarolta Monspart last spring.
MTI
Photo: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák
