Hungarian Swimmers ‘Qualified’ For Olympics At Meet That Never Was

Half of Hungary’s swimming team, which won six Olympic medals, qualified for the Atlanta Games on the basis of fictitious times from a meet that was never held.

Government officials Tuesday confirmed newspaper reports of the scam and blamed the Hungarian Swimming Federation for submitting the fraudulent records.

“Fraud is fraud, and this was fraud,” said Rezsoe Gallov, who heads the government’s national gymnastics and sports office in Budapest. “We and the Hungarian Olympic Committee oppose any such practice.”

Gallov said 11 of the 22-member Hungarian team had not met Olympic qualification times at national and regional meets. So a phantom meet was held and imaginary times were entered.

Listed as participants at the phony meet were Attila Czene, Tamas Deutsch and Attila Zubor, among the country’s best swimmers. Czene was part of the gold medal-winning team that took the 200-meter medley.