Eva NOVAK-GERARD

Éva Novák's strongest event was the 200 m breast stroke. She twice bettered the world record (1950-51), and won an Olympic bronze (1948) and silver (1952). At the 1952 Olympics, Novák also won a silver in the 200 m freestyle, and swam on the golden Hungarian relay team, together with her sister Ilona. In Helsinki, she also met a Belgian reporter, Pierre Gérard, who would become her husband. Novák moved to Brussels to study medicine, and started swimming for Belgium. Her last Olympic participation was for that country, and she also won eight Belgian titles (compared to 33 Hungarian titles). Éva Novák was inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1973, together with her sister. She was unable to return to her birth country until after the fall of the iron curtain.