Hungary at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Hungary at the 2004 Summer Olympics
IOC code	HUN
NOC	Hungarian Olympic Committee
Website	www.olimpia.hu (in Hungarian and English)
in Athens
Competitors	209 in 20 sports
Flag bearer	Antal Kovács[1]
Medals Ranked 12th	Gold 8 Silver 6 Bronze 3 Total 17
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games

Hungary competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. Hungarian athletes have competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of the Soviet boycott. The Hungarian Olympic Committee (Hungarian: Magyar Olimpiai Bizottság, MOB) sent a total of 209 athletes to the Games, 119 men and 90 women, to compete in 20 sports. Water polo and handball were the only team-based sports in which Hungary had its representation in these Olympic Games. There was only a single competitor in road cycling and mountain biking.

The Hungarian team featured several Olympic medalists from Sydney, including the men's water polo team (led by Tibor Benedek), épée fencer Tímea Nagy, sprint kayakers Zoltán Kammerer, György Kolonics (who later died in 2008 due to heart failure), and Katalin Kovács, and breaststroke and medley swimmer Ágnes Kovács. Table tennis player Csilla Bátorfi became the first female Hungarian athlete to compete in five Olympic Games as one of the most sophisticated members of the team. Along with Kolonics and Benedek, six Hungarian athletes had made their fourth Olympic appearance, including fencer Iván Kovács and half-heavyweight judoka Antal Kovács, who was assigned by the committee to become the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.^[1] Race walker Zoltán Czukor, aged 41, was the oldest member of the team, while backstroke swimmer Evelyn Verrasztó was the youngest at age 15.

Hungary left Athens with a total of 17 Olympic medals, 8 golds, 6 silver, and 3 bronze, matching its overall tally with Sydney four years earlier.^[2] Almost a third of these medals were awarded to the athletes in sprint canoeing, three in fencing, and two in swimming. Skeet shooter Diána Igaly and modern pentathlete Zsuzsanna Vörös won Olympic gold medals for the first time in their respective sporting events by a female.^[3][4] Meanwhile, Nagy managed to repeat her gold from Sydney in women's épée fencing.^[5] Hungary's team-based athletes proved particularly successful in Athens, as the men's water polo team had fulfilled a mission to defend their eighth overall Olympic title.^[6]

Originally, Hungary had won 20 Olympic medals at these Games. Four Hungarian medalists had been disqualified from the Games for committing an anti-doping violation, two of which were Olympic champions in track and field. On August 25, 2004, discus thrower Róbert Fazekas failed to submit a proper urine sample during the test, and was not allowed to present his gold in the medal ceremony.^[7] At the conclusion of the Games, the International Olympic Committee decided to strip off Adrián Annus' gold medal in men's hammer throw for failing to show up in the doping test.^[8]