Born: 3 May 1989, Hungary
Died: NA
Country most active: Hungary
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
And then there are instances like what happened right after Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú broke a world record at the Rio Olympics in 2016. NBC cut away from Hosszú to her volatile coach/husband in the stands, with a commentator declaring him “the guy responsible for turning [her] into a whole different swimmer.” Never mind that she’s been an Olympian since she was 15—years before she met him—and had been winning gold medals at the European Championships before he started coaching her, and that he was himself a failed wannabe professional swimmer who, at only a year older than her, had little experience. This is also a guy who, at an event for 10- and 11-year-olds, of whom he was the coach, exploded into a profanity-laced rant, yelling “fuck you” and flipping his middle fingers at an official. Hosszú filed for divorce a year and a half later. He retaliated by trying to delete her public Facebook page. He subsequently coached Italian swimmer Ilaria Cusinato, but they “parted ways” within nine months. Meanwhile, without his coaching, Hosszú became the most decorated female swimmer at the European Championships in 2020, when her total medal count reached 24—with her 25th (won at the 2022 European Championships), she was just one shy of tying Alexander Popov, who holds the overall record with 26.