Israel is not exactly an Alpine country with hundreds of ski slopes or thousands of world class skiers. Hungary has had some good competitive skiers in the past but has never produced a world class skier. It seems that all this has changed now; Hungary has a new ski star – in Israeli colors.
Here is the story.
A couple of days ago at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland, Noa Szöllős, a young Hungarian-born woman won the first ever metal (a bronze) for Israel in Super-G slalom. The additional combined silver metal was the icing on the cake.
Her father, Péter Szőllős, is a 52-year old Hungarian ex-skier who trains his own three children in Austria. They are all promising skiers. His two boys, Barnabás and Benjámin have already had successes and the youngest, 16-year old daughter Noa, has suddenly found herself among the world’s elite skiers
In the past, the Szőllős kids competed in Hungarian colors but when they asked for support from the Hungarian Ski Federation, they were not only rejected but the Federation’s malicious bureaucracy made it hard for the young skiers to compete. Cronyism, pettiness and overall chaos characterize the Hungarian ski organization.
Father Szőllős had enough. Last year he approached the Israeli Federation and they happily accepted all three Szőllős skiers who were immediately included in Israel’s national team. Now they are training with the team and compete in Israeli colors.
Hungary’s pro-government media downplayed Noa’s success. The sports crazy Orbán government pours billions of forints into competitive sports but Hungary’s sport management is not able to deliver the expected results.
Click here to watch Noa’s run.
György Lázár