Béla BEKESSY

Béla Bekéssy competed with all three fencing weapons at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, winning a silver medal with his best weapon, the sabre. He was trained by László Borsody and Italo Santelli. Békessy won multiple Hungarian titles between 1901-07, and was also Hungarian dressage champion in 1907.

In World War I Békessy joined the 2nd Hussars Regiment where he served on the Russian Front. For his actions in taking over 200 Russian prisoners-of-war and securing a cache of secret Russian documents he was given the Hungarian Iron Crown for bravery. Shortly after that he was killed in action in Volyn-Podilsk Upland in the Ukraine. Békessy is remembered by an annual fencing tournament in his honor in Hungary.