Attila Vajda

Hungarian sprint canoeist

The native form of this personal name is Vajda Attila. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Attila Vajda

Personal information
Nationality| Hungarian
Born|  (1983-03-17) 17 March 1983 (age 42)
Szeged, Hungary
Sport
Sport| Canoe sprint
Club|  EDF Démász-Szeged
Coached by| Viktor Vécsi

Medal record

Men's sprint canoeing
Representing  Hungary
Olympic Games
| 2008 Beijing | C-1 1000 m
| 2004 Athens | C-1 1000 m
World Championships
| 2007 Duisburg | C-1 1000 m
| 2011 Szeged | C-1 1000 m
| 2013 Duisburg | C-1 1000 m
| 2009 Dartmouth | C-1 4 x 200 m
| 2010 Poznań | C-1 1000 m
| 2013 Duisburg | C-1 5000 m
| 2014 Moscow | C-1 5000 m
| 2006 Szeged | C-1 1000 m
| 2014 Moscow | C-1 1000 m
European Championships
| 2014 Brandenburg | C-1 1000 m

Attila Vajda (born 17 March 1983) is a Hungarian sprint canoeist who has competed since the early 2000s. Competing in three Summer Olympics (04, 08, 12) he has won two medals in the C-1 1000 m event with a gold in 2008 and a bronze in 2004.

Vajda was a European junior champion in 2000, winning the Canadian canoe C-2 1000 m title with Démász-Szeged team-mate Márton Joób in Boulogne, France. In 2002 the pair came second at the European under-23 championships in Zagreb, Croatia in the same event.

Hungarian coach Zoltán Angyal was confident of Vajda's ability but took the decision not to give him his senior international debut in 2002 or 2003. In 2004, Angyal was still keeping his cards close to his chest. The Hungarian team did not take part in the early season international regattas: at the European Championships Hungary was represented in the C-1 races by Márton Joób and Sándor Malomsoki. Angyal then shocked his rival coaches by selecting Vajda as his "secret weapon" for the 2004 Summer Olympics in the C-1 1000 m event.

In his initial heat with a time of 3:57.290, Vajda qualified for the semifinals. There, he placed second, this time at 3:52.236, advancing to the final round. Vajda won a bronze in the event behind Spain's David Cal and Germany's Andreas Dittmer, but beat out 1996 Olympic champion Martin Doktor with a time of 3:49.025.

Hungary is one of the few countries in the world where sprint canoeists have the status of stars known to the general public and Vajda suddenly found himself the new "golden boy" of Hungarian canoeing. His performances in 2005 suffered as a result of these distractions; he started the season overweight and failed to make the podium in any major international race.

In 2006 he won the national title over all three distances and, in May, beat a top-class international field at Duisburg. Injury prevented him from appearing at the European championships, but he was determined not to miss the 2006 World Championships, held in his hometown of Szeged. He recovered in time to take the C-1 1000 m bronze medal behind surprise winner Everardo Cristóbal of Mexico and Germany's Andreas Dittmer. Vadja won the gold medal in the same event at the following world championships in Duisburg.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Vajda wore a black armband in dedication to his fallen teammate György Kolonics and dedicated his C-1 1000 m gold in Kolonics' honor. He would win the Hungarian Sportsman of The Year for his Beijing win.

Vajda won a silver in the C-1 4 × 200 m event at the 2009 championships in Dartmouth. He also won a silver in the C-1 1000 m at the 2010 championships.

In June 2015, he competed in the inaugural European Games, for Hungary in canoe sprint, more specifically, Men's C-1 1000m. He earned a bronze medal.

## Sponsors

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* Herbalife
* MOL
* EDF Energy
* A-HID
* Naturtex

## Awards

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* Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary – Golden Cross (2004)
* Hungarian canoer of the Year (8): 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014
* Junior Príma award (2007)
* Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary – Officer's Cross (2008)
* Hungarian Sportman of the Year (1) - votes of sports journalists: 2008
* Hungarian Athlete of the Year (1) - the National Sports Association (NSSZ) awards: 2008
* Ministerial Certificate of Merit (2012)
* Csongrád County Sportman of Year by Délmagyarország (2013)

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Canoe09.ca profile
* ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936–2007 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2010-01-05)
* ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007 at WebCite (archived 2009-11-09)
* Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Attila Vajda". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.

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Olympic canoeing champions in men's C-1 1000 m

* 1936:  Frank Amyot (CAN)
* 1948:  Josef Holeček (TCH)
* 1952:  Josef Holeček (TCH)
* 1956:  Leon Rotman (ROU)
* 1960:  János Parti (HUN)
* 1964:  Jürgen Eschert (EUA)
* 1968:  Tibor Tatai (HUN)
* 1972:  Ivan Patzaichin (ROU)
* 1976:  Matija Ljubek (YUG)
* 1980:  Lyubomir Lyubenov (BUL)
* 1984:  Ulrich Eicke (FRG)
* 1988:  Ivans Klementjevs (URS)
* 1992:  Nikolay Bukhalov (BUL)
* 1996:  Martin Doktor (CZE)
* 2000:  Andreas Dittmer (GER)
* 2004:  David Cal (ESP)
* 2008:  Attila Vajda (HUN)
* 2012:  Sebastian Brendel (GER)
* 2016:  Sebastian Brendel (GER)
* 2020:  Isaquias Queiroz (BRA)
* 2024:  Martin Fuksa (CZE)

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World Champions in Men's Canoe Sprint C-1 1000 m

* 1938: Otto Neumüller (GER)
* 1950: Josef Holeček (TCH)
* 1954: János Parti (HUN)
* 1958: Gennady Bukharin (URS)
* 1963: Simion Ismailciuc (ROU)
* 1966: Detlef Lewe (GER)
* 1970: Tibor Tatai (HUN)
* 1971: Detlef Lewe (GER)
* 1973: Ivan Patzaichin (ROU)
* 1974: Vasyl Yurchenko (URS)
* 1975: Vasyl Yurchenko (URS)
* 1977: Ivan Patzaichin (ROU)
* 1978: Matija Ljubek (YUG)
* 1979: Tamás Wichmann (HUN)
* 1981: Ulrich Papke (GDR)
* 1982: Jörg Schmidt (GDR)
* 1983: Vassiliy Beresa (URS)
* 1985: Ivans Klementjevs (URS)
* 1986: Aurel Macarencu (ROU)
* 1987: Olaf Heukrodt (GDR)
* 1989: Ivans Klementjevs (URS)
* 1990: Ivans Klementjevs (URS)
* 1991: Ivans Klementjevs (URS)
* 1993: Ivans Klementjevs (LAT)
* 1994: Ivans Klementjevs (LAT)
* 1995: Imre Pulai (HUN)
* 1997: Andreas Dittmer (GER)
* 1998: Stephen Giles (CAN)
* 1999: Maksim Opalev (RUS)
* 2001: Andreas Dittmer (GER)
* 2002: Andreas Dittmer (GER)
* 2003: Andreas Dittmer (GER)
* 2005: Andreas Dittmer (GER)
* 2006: Everardo Cristóbal (MEX)
* 2007: Attila Vajda (HUN)
* 2009: Vadim Menkov (UZB)
* 2010: Vadim Menkov (UZB)
* 2011: Attila Vajda (HUN)
* 2013: Attila Vajda (HUN)
* 2014: Sebastian Brendel (GER)
* 2015: Sebastian Brendel (GER)
* 2017: Sebastian Brendel (GER)
* 2018: Sebastian Brendel (GER)
* 2019: Isaquias Queiroz (BRA)
* 2021: Conrad-Robin Scheibner (GER)
* 2022: Cătălin Chirilă (ROU)
* 2023: Martin Fuksa (CZE)

Awards

Preceded by

Gábor Talmácsi

|  Hungarian Sportsman of The Year
2008  | Succeeded by

Dániel Gyurta
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