The first Hungarian medal at the Paris Olympics is here! (video)

Eszter Muhari: My year was a huge roller coaster!

Eszter Muhari, the duelist who won the bronze medal, told us what helped her in the final bout, how she overcame the lost semi-final, what she went through when it seemed like she would miss the Olympics, what she thinks about the qualification system, and how she celebrates.

What Áron Szilágyi, András Szatmári and Csánád Gémesi failed to do in the men's saber individual on the first day of the Paris Olympics, one of our female duelists succeeded: Eszter Muhari was able to stand on the podium in the Grand Palais! Belying his age, the 21-year-old competitor fought maturely and his heart was in the right place. His courage and audacity paid off: he also beat a world champion, got back on his feet after the painful semi-final and also fought tremendously in the bronze medal battle. In the encore, he went forward, took risks and won. Still, he accepted what had happened in disbelief, which he apparently had not yet processed.

"It seemed on the scoreboard that I really gave the last shot. I'm very happy, I can't understand it yet, so I can't say anything about it"

- the recent Olympic medalist searched for words in the ring of journalists. The Pashtun, on the other hand, was not embarrassed. As it turned out, they worked a lot with his coach, István László and the professional staff, not only on the fencer's technique.

"I had to do a lot of mental work for this. We have been preparing for this for months. This is also the main key to fencing, that everything is decided in the head.  

I looked at my coach and saw a confidence in him that gave me the courage to be very brave even in the last race. I believed in the work we had done together over the past 13 years.

 Finally, I got the courage and I was able to do the action with which I scored the last hit."

Why didn't you smile?

Eszter Muhari didn't just give evidence of a huge presence of mind at the end, she collected big scalps all day. He beat China's Tang 15-10, 2022 world champion Song from Korea 15-6, and bid farewell to China's Yu 15-10 in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, after 6-6, she could not keep up with Auriane Mallo-Breton, who enjoyed the support of the home crowd (9-15). But as always, there is something good in every bad thing.

"It was probably better that I fought the second semi-final, so I had less time to think about it. I pushed it out of my head to be annoyed, because I knew there was one more match that I had to win anyway. Now that I've succeeded, a big stone has fallen from my heart and I feel like I can stop concentrating. Anyway, it takes a lot out of me that I really can't even smile at anyone, because then the focus immediately goes away."

Crying Olympics

The BHSE duelist was especially sad in the spring, because he missed the Paris Olympics in the first round. In the end, although due to a ban, he made it to the Games on the whole in his own right, with his ranking and not with the national quota that fell into his lap. The well-known Anna Kun, who repeatedly violated the rules of her place, was banned in the spring due to a doping violation, so one of the following in the ranking, including Eszter Muhari, stepped forward. to Mandiner's question about whether participating in the Olympics would satisfy him and also formulated a criticism.

“Of course it is. This year has been a huge roller coaster for me. Up, down and now I finally feel that even if I didn't reach the top, I at least met my own expectations. What I didn't say before, but I managed to get the medal. I think the qualification system is very complicated and it is extremely difficult to get out! It's already a huge success that I finally got a quota, and it's just the icing on the cake that I can stand on the podium. Of course, I'm a little disappointed because of the lost semi-final, but it's my first Olympics, I'm 21 years old, and I want to handle things properly!" said Eszter Muhari, who revealed how she used to celebrate.

"Usually with my family. Here are my parents, mother and father. Fortunately, we managed to convince them to come out, because they are very nervous types and they didn't want to. I'm glad I got them!”

Featured image: Civilek.Info