Fencing is a sport filled with elegance, dexterity, power, and lightning quick decision-making. Historically, Hungarians have excelled at the art, which also has a local nostalgic aspect to it. For instance, Sunshine, the award-winning drama directed by István Szabó, was about a famous Hungarian fencing family in 20th Century Hungary.

In the 21st century, fencing remains strong in the country. You need look no farther than the most recent Olympics and World Championships as proof, where Hungarian sabre fencer Áron Szilágyi prevailed to win a gold medal (his third). More recently, he had the honer of winning the title of World Champion.

Born in Budapest in 1990, Szilágyi has a strong pedigree. His coach is György Gerevich, whose father, Aladár Gerevich was a seven-time Olympic champion. His first Olympics was in 2008 in Beijing, where he finished 7th in the individual competition. Szilágyi was the only Hungarian male to qualify for the men’s individual sabre event in the 2012 Olympics in London, and went on to win the gold medal. As if all this athletic prowess weren’t enough, he also holds a degree in psychology from an esteemed Budapest university.

While Szilágyi is Hungarian through and through, he seems to be very internationally minded, naming Alaska as his dream trip in an interview. When it comes to music, he likes classics such as Beethoven. Jerry Maguire is his favorite film, and if you look at him closely, you can see there is a touch of Tom Cruise, or at least Daniel Day Lewis, to his appearance. In the Áron Szilágyi film, he might be the best choice to play himself.

Below is an interview with the swarthy fencer, in Hungarian but with English subtitles.

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