Pal Szekeres

Career

In 1991, he was injured in a bus accident, and used a wheelchair. He then took to wheelchair fencing. He will be participating in the Paralympic Games for the fifth time at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008.

Outside the Paralympic Games, Szekeres participated in the Wheelchair Fencing World Cup in 2006, winning a bronze medal in the individual sabre event.

He is currently ranked third in the world. From 1999 to 2005, Szekeres was deputy state secretary within the Ministry of Children, Youth and Sports.

He was also Ministerial Commissioner and Senior Programme Officer tasked with a government programme to provide "equal opportunity through sport for people living with disabilities". From 2001 to 2005, he was "member at large" of the European Paralympic Committee, working in administration.

In 2005, he became President of the Hungarian Sports Federation for the Disabled.

Szekeres has a university degree in physical education as a coach, and also holds a degree in marketing communication.

Achievements

• He has the distinction of being the first person to have won medals at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Szekeres represented Hungary at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and won a bronze medal in the team foil event. Described as "the most successful Paralympic athlete in Hungary", he won a gold medal in foil at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, two gold at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, a bronze in 2000 and another bronze in 2004. He has also been European Champion, notably winning gold in the individual sabre event at the European Championships in 2007.

Membership

From 1996 to 2000, he was a member of the Presidency of the International Wheelchair Fencing Committee. As of 2005, Szekeres was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Paralympic Committee of Hungary, and was participating in the organising of the International Paralympic Sport Film Festival.