Resisted vaccination for too long
Vaccine-skeptical Olympic champion dies of Corona
01/25/2022 07:43 am
The Hungarian Olympic champion Szilveszter Csollany has long resisted the corona vaccination. When he threatens to lose his job, he still gets vaccinated. Shortly afterwards he becomes infected, the protection has not yet been established. He has now passed away at the age of 51.
The Hungarian gymnast and Olympic champion Szilveszter Csollany, who was critical of vaccination, died after contracting Covid-19. As the local authorities announced on Monday, the athlete died at the age of 51. He was infected with the corona virus in December and had to be artificially ventilated in the hospital.
According to a report in the newspaper “Blikk” from the beginning of January, the gymnast had published several posts against the corona vaccinations on his Facebook page. He also mocked the corona vaccination on Instagram at the end of September. There he posted a picture of a vodka bottle and wrote that he had now “vaccinated” himself and did not have to wait weeks for the second vaccination. It was his last post on this platform.
In the end, however, Csollany had himself vaccinated in order to be able to continue working as a coach, the newspaper “Blikk” reported in January. The vaccination was only given shortly before the infection, which apparently meant that his body could not produce enough antibodies.
President Orban mourns
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán paid tribute to the gymnast with a black and white photo on Facebook. “Farewell, Champion,” read the caption. Csollany’s colleague, the athlete Zoltan Magyar, lamented “a great loss at such a young age”. The Hungarian Olympic Committee reacted “with deep sadness” to the death of the former top athlete.
Csollany had won Olympic silver on rings in Atlanta in 1996. In 1998 he became European champion and again two years later he managed to win the gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. In 2002 he also won gold at the World Championships in Hungary. Csollany was voted Hungary’s Sportsman of the Year in 2000 and 2002. Most recently he worked as a coach in Austria and Iceland.