Sandor WLADAR

After the American boycott of 1980 Olympic Games, Hungarian Zoltán Verrasztó, the 1975 World Champion and 1978 World silver medalist in the 200 backstroke, was considered the favorite in this event. But in the Olympic final, Verrasztó was upset by young compatriot Sándor Wladár, who beat Verrasztó by nearly half a second to win gold.

Before the Olympics, Wladár won both backstroke events and the 200 IM bronze at the 1978 European Junior Championships. After the Olympics, he won both backstroke events at the 1981 European Championships, after which he was named European Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine and was selected as the Hungarian Sportsman of the Year. At the 1982 World Championships Wladár won silver in the 200 back and his last international medal came at the 1983 European Championships, winning silver in the 200 m backstroke. Wladár won 22 Hungarian titles between 1979-85 – 50 back (1985), 100 back (1981-84), 200 back (1979-84), 100 free (1984), 200 free (1980), 200 IM (1982-83), 400 IM (1981-83), 4x100 free relay (1984), 4x200 free relay (1981-82), and medley relay (1982).