I have my first gold medal in Paris.
Hubert Kós won the 200-meter backstroke at the Paris Olympics, thereby obtaining Hungary's first gold medal in the French capital.
The 21-year-old competitor triumphed in Thursday's final with a time of 1:54.26 minutes.
Kós, who is preparing in the United States under the guidance of the legendary Bob Bowman, won the 30th Olympic gold in the history of Hungarian swimming.
According to Hubert Kós, he tried not to cramp for Thursday's final, during which he concentrated on his own racing, and this brought him success.
It's an incredible feeling, I couldn't process it yet - began the 21-year-old Hungarian competitor, who won the 30th five-ring gold medal in the history of Hungarian swimming.
"The great Aaron Peirsol, the world record holder, once said that you have to swim the two hundred back by feeling, that is, how you feel that day, you have to allocate your strength. I did that too as I was feeling a bit tired but I knew I would be good in the second half of the race as Bob (Bowman) and I have been working on it all year. At the beginning, I just wanted to set a good pace," said Kós, who won the Hungarian delegation's fourth medal and first gold in Paris.
Kós, who is preparing in the United States with the former legendary Michael Phelps and the current trainer of the French superstar Léon Marchand, who has won three gold medals in Paris so far, noted that he did not perceive anything from the competition, so he was not even aware that the Greek Apostle Christ was dictating a tremendous pace, and left the field.
I knew that if I did what I was capable of, there could be no problem, he said.
The recent Olympic champion emphasized: he tried to stay as calm as possible.
"I walked out without even looking at the five-ring. I didn't think that this was an Olympic final, a last chance or something like that, because you can die in this, it can grind you down. I tried to enjoy it and think that this is just a smooth race like the ones I've already won a million from, so I just focused on myself and I'm glad I did it," he said.
Kós has been preparing in the United States since the beginning of 2023, under the guidance of the legendary Bob Bowman, as a result of the joint work, he won a gold medal at the World Championships in Fukuoka last summer, and came to Paris as a number one contender. He revealed: he secretly hoped, but he would not have thought that it would become an Olympic title.
I sacrificed a lot to make this happen, I'm happy - said Hubert Kós, who then left in a hurry to lead him off, because he will be interested in the 100-meter butterfly on Friday. As he put it: according to the plans for the celebration, there will be a big sleep.
After the current president of the association, Sándor Wladár, Kós is the second Hungarian male swimmer to win in this number at the five-hoop games. He received the gold medal from Sándor Wladár and Balázs Fürjes, the Hungarian member of the International Olympic Committee, at the results announcement.
MTI
