László Cseh

László Cseh (; born 3 December 1985) is a retired Hungarian competitive swimmer and six-time Olympic medalist. He is a 33-time European Champion. His father, László Cseh Sr., also represented Hungary at the Olympics in swimming. In 2020, Braden Keith of SwimSwam nominated him as number 1 within top 10 male swimmers who have never won Olympic gold.

Personal life The son of an Olympic swimmer, Cseh started swimming competitively at an early age. Cseh is coached by György Turi and Zoltán Nemes. He holds a scholarship with the Olympic Solidarity programme.

Swimming career At the 2003 World Championships, Cseh captured a silver medal in the 400 m individual medley, his first medal at the highest level. He also finished 7th and 13th in the 100 and 200 metres backstroke, all in national record time.

2004 Olympics Cseh represented Hungary at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece in the 400 m individual medley, 100 m backstroke, and the 200 m individual medley, despite having broken his ankle in the training camp on a stairway a couple of weeks before. Nevertheless, he won a bronze medal in the 400 m individual medley as well as coming in fourth in the 200 m individual medley, and sixth in the 100 m backstroke.

At the 2005 World Championships, Cseh not only improved his national records, he excelled further up in the world rankings, and entered the meet as a serious medal contender in 3 events. After Michael Phelps backed out of the 400 m individual medley, Cseh picked up his first gold medal at the world championships.

Cseh failed to back up his previous performances in the 2007 World Championships, finishing outside the medals in the 400 m individual medley; however he did set a new national record in the 200 m individual medley, along with testing out the 200 m freestyle.

2008 Olympics Cseh represented Hungary at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in three swimming events: the 400 m individual medley, the 200 m butterfly, and the 200 m individual medley. Despite setting the European record in all of them, he won the silver medal in each and came in second behind American Michael Phelps, who won each event with a new world record. In both individual medleys, Cseh came out ahead of the bronze-medal winner Ryan Lochte.

At the 2009 World Championships, Cseh was rushed to hospital on arrival in Rome, suffering from a stomach virus. A source close to the Hungarian team stated: "He has had to have re hydration and electrolyte drinks but is quite sick." He scratched his first event, the 200 m butterfly, however he did return to competition on day 4 setting a European record in the 200 m individual medley, swimming a touch slower the next night to capture silver, final night of competition saw him take bronze in the 400 m individual medley.

At the 2010 European Championships, Cseh held off Markus Rogan for gold in the 200 m individual medley, winning the event for the third time. Also taking gold in the 400 m individual medley for the fourth time. He scratched the European Short Course Championships to focus on the World Short Course Championships where he won a bronze in the 200 m butterfly.

At the 2011 World Championships, he took bronze in the 200 m individual medley, finished 9th in the 100 m butterfly, and 12th in the 200 m butterfly.

2012 Olympics At the 2012 Olympics, he competed in 6 events: the 200 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley, 400 m individual medley, and the 3 relays. Cseh narrowly failed to reach the final of the 400 meter individual medley, coming in 9th position in the semi-finals. He finished 12th in the 200m butterfly. Cseh did add to his Olympic medal count with a bronze in the 200 meter individual medley, touching the wall in a time of 1:56.22, behind Phelps (gold – 1:54.27) and Lochte (silver – 1:54.90).

At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, Cseh finally won another gold, 10 years after his first, by winning the 200m butterfly in 1:53.48, 0.2 seconds ahead of Chad le Clos.

2016 Olympics At the 2016 Olympics, he competed in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly, along with the 4 × 100 m medley relay.

In 100 m butterfly he finished 2nd along with rivals Michael Phelps and Chad le Clos, where Singaporean Joseph Schooling won the race with a new Olympic record. Cseh has now won Olympic silver medals in four different events, and he has also won individual medals in four different Olympics.

2020 Olympics At the 2020 Olympics, Laszlo Cseh competed in his fifth and last Olympic games, entering in men's 200m IM only. The 35-year-old Hungarian stopped the clock in a time of 1:57.68 to finish 7th in the race, after the race he announced retirement from competitive swimming, ending his legendary career as 6-time Olympic medalist and 13-time World Champ medalist.

Career best times

Long course (50 m pool) Event Time Meet Location Date Notes 200 m freestyle 1.45.78 rh 2009 World Championships Rome, Italy July 31, 2009 Former NR 400 m freestyle 3:52.16 h 2008 European Championships Eindhoven, Netherlands March 18, 2008 50 m backstroke 25.39 2008 Hungarian National Championships Budapest, Hungary July 9, 2008 Former NR 100 m backstroke 53.40 r 2012 Summer Olympics London, United Kingdom August 4, 2012 Former NR 200 m backstroke 1:56.69 2006 European Championships Budapest, Hungary August 5, 2006 Former NR 50 m butterfly 23.06 sf 2015 World Championships Kazan, Russia August 2, 2015 Former NR 100 m butterfly 50.86 2016 European Championships London, United Kingdom May 21, 2016 Former NR 200 m butterfly 1:52.70 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China August 13, 2008 Former ER 200 m individual medley 1:55.18 sf 2009 World Championships Rome, Italy July 29, 2009 Former ER 400 m individual medley 4:06.16 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China July 29, 2009 NR, Former ER

Short course (25 m pool) Event Time Meet Location Date Notes 200 m freestyle 1.41.64 2009 European Short Course Championships Istanbul, Turkey December 13, 2009 Former NR 400 m freestyle 3:40.69 2007 Hungarian Short Course Championships Debrecen, Hungary November 16, 2007 Former NR 50 m backstroke 24.31 2009 Hungarian Short Course Championships Százhalombatta, Hungary November 13, 2009 Former NR 100 m backstroke 51.29 2005 European Short Course Championships Trieste, Italy December 11, 2005 Former NR 200 m backstroke 1:53.42 2003 European Short Course Championships Dublin, Ireland December 11, 2003 Former NR 50 m butterfly 22.88 sf 2017 European Short Course Championships Copenhagen, Denmark December 16, 2017 Former NR 100 m butterfly 49.33 2015 European Short Course Championships Netanya, Israel December 3, 2015 NR 200 m butterfly 1:49.00 2015 European Short Course Championships Netanya, Israel December 6, 2015 NR, Former ER 100 m individual medley 53.11 2012 World Cup Berlin, Germany October 20, 2012 Former NR 200 m individual medley 1.51.36 2015 European Short Course Championships Netanya, Israel December 4, 2015 NR, Former ER 400 m individual medley 3:57.27 2009 European Short Course Championships Istanbul, Turkey December 11, 2009 NR, Former WR

Records

World records Cseh has set 5 world records throughout his career. All of the records were individually set in a short course (25-meter) pool.

Short course (25 m pool) No. Event Time Meet Location Date Status 1 200 m individual medley 1:53.46 2005 European Short Course Championships Trieste, Italy Former 2 400 m individual medley 4:00.37 2005 European Short Course Championships Trieste, Italy Former 3 200 m individual medley (2) 1:52.99 2007 European Short Course Championships Debrecen, Hungary Former 4 400 m individual medley (2) 3:59.33 2007 European Short Course Championships Debrecen, Hungary Former 5 400 m individual medley (3) 3:57.27 2009 European Short Course Championships Istanbul, Turkey Former

European records Cseh has set 22 European records throughout his career, with 12 set in a long course (50-meter) pool and 10 in a short course (25-meter) pool. All of the records were set individually.

Long course (50 m pool) No. Event Time Meet Location Date Status 1 400 m individual medley 4:10.79 2003 World Championships Barcelona, Spain Former 2 400 m individual medley (2) 4:10.10 2005 Mare Nostrum – Meeting Arena de Canet-en-Roussillon Canet-en-Roussillon, France Former 3 200 m individual medley 1:57.61 2005 World Championships Montreal, Canada Former 4 400 m individual medley (3) 4:09.63 2005 World Championships Montreal, Canada Former 5 200 m individual medley (2) 1:56.92 2007 World Championships Melbourne, Australia Former 6 400 m individual medley (4) 4:09.59 2008 European Championships Eindhoven, Netherlands Former 7 400 m individual medley (5) 4:07.96 2008 Mare Nostrum – Meeting Arena de Canet-en-Roussillon Canet-en-Roussillon, France Former 8 400 m individual medley (6) 4:06.16 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China Former 9 200 m butterfly 1:52.70 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China Former 10 200 m individual medley (3) 1:56.52 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China Former 11 200 m individual medley (4) 1:56.34 h 2009 World Championships Rome, Italy Former 12 200 m individual medley (5) 1:55.18 sf 2009 World Championships Rome, Italy Former

Short course (25 m pool) No. Event Time Meet Location Date Status Notes 1 400 m individual medley 4:04.10 2003 European Short Course Championships Dublin, Ireland Former 2 400 m individual medley (2) 4:03.96 2004 European Short Course Championships Vienna, Austria Former 3 200 m individual medley 1:53.46 2005 European Short Course Championships Trieste, Italy Former Former WR 4 400 m individual medley (3) 4:00.37 2005 European Short Course Championships Trieste, Italy Former Former WR 5 200 m individual medley (2) 1:52.99 2007 European Short Course Championships Debrecen, Hungary Former Former WR 6 400 m individual medley (4) 3:59.33 2007 European Short Course Championships Debrecen, Hungary Former Former WR 7 200 m individual medley (3) 1:52.85 2009 Hungarian Short Course Championships Százhalombatta, Hungary Former 8 400 m individual medley (5) 3:57.27 2009 European Short Course Championships Istanbul, Turkey Former Former WR 9 200 m individual medley (4) 1:51.36 2015 European Short Course Championships Netanya, Israel Former 10 200 m butterfly 1:49.00 2015 European Short Course Championships Netanya, Israel Former

Awards Hungarian swimmer of the Year (9): 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016

Swimming World Magazine – European Swimmer of the Year (2): 2005, 2006 Hungarian Athlete of the Year (1) - the National Sports Association (NSSZ) awards: 2006 Budapest Pro Urbe award (2006) Hungarian Sportsman of the Year (2) - votes of sports journalists: 2006, 2015 Junior Príma award (2007)

Honorary Citizen of Balatonalmádi (2008) Príma Primissima award (2009) Honorary Citizen of Kőbánya (2011)

Hungarian university athlete of the year (1): 2015 Hungarian Heritage Award (2015) European swimmer of the year (LEN) (2015) Honorary Citizen of Eger (2016)