Inspiring Story of Karoly Takacs

You’ve worked hard all your life for that one dream to come true. You and your people are confident that this is your time. Expectations of people close to you makes you nervous and excited at the same time.

And then something unexpected and unfortunate happens and you couldn’t achieve your dream. Your dreams are completely shattered. So much so that what you’ve lost could never be recovered. It wasn’t even your fault, it was just an unfortunate event- what will you do then?

Karoly Takacs was a sergeant in the Hungarian army. He had a dream of winning gold in the Olympics in the shooting category. By 1936, he was a world-class pistol shooter, capable enough to win gold. But still he couldn’t compete in the Olympics due to the policy of his country which only allowed officers to compete and Takacs was a sergeant, so he had to miss the 1936 Olympics.

Finally, the Hungarian government changed its policy and lifted the ban for the 1940 Olympics. Now Takacs can finally compete for the 1940 Olympics. Everybody in the Olympics fraternity knew that Takacs would win the gold. He was clear favourite at the 1940 Olympics held in Tokyo. He was prepared for the main event to arrive, he participated and won every national tournament.

But in 1938, something tragic happened, which would later not only change the course of history but will teach you a lesson of sheer determination.

In 1938 in the army training camp, during the training session, a faulty grenade exploded in his right hand and blew it. The dream of winning gold in Olympics crashed. Takacs definitely didn’t see this coming.

In such scenarios, where we have lost our assets, we whine, blame god, our destiny, quit, some might even consider not living. We blame others for our failures. But Karoly Takacs was a hard core motherfucker.

He might have been sad and shed some tears. But rather than giving up and sitting home alone watching others achieve their dream, he went into isolation and focused on what was left of him. His left hand. But the problem was that he couldn’t even write from that hand. The battle was going to be tough.

He went into isolation, trained for one year and came for the championship. Nobody knew about his preparation. He practiced and was slowly improving his craft day after day.

In 1939, one year after the incident Takacs went to Hungarian national pistol championship. People were amazed to see him there. Despite accident, he came to support the participants and watch them compete.

But it came as a shock when Takacs told them he wasn’t there to watch them, but to compete with them. Other participants were competing with the best hand and Takacs was going to compete with the only hand. And the man with the only hand won.

But his dream was to win gold at the Olympics and after winning the championship he started practicing for the 1940 Olympics.

But 1940 Olympics got cancelled due to world war but rather than getting demotivated he started practicing for the 1944 Olympics. But 1944 Olympics also got cancelled due to world war. The dream of winning a gold in the Olympics seemed afar. Still, he persisted and put all his attention on 1948 Olympics.

In 1948 at the age of 38, Karoly Takacs was no longer among the favourites to win the gold. As you grow old, beating the younger generation gets tougher through time. Your body doesn’t support you as much as it did in the younger days. Therefore, athletes tend to retire between age 30–35 or 40 at maximum.

In the 1948 London Olympics, Carlos Enrique Diaz Saenz Valiente of Argentina was a clear favourite. Valiente and other participants were going to compete with his best hand and Karoly with his only hand.

At the age of 38, to everyone’s surprise Takacs beat the favourite Valiente, the reigning world champion. And not only did he win, but also set a new world record by beating previous one by ten points.

Before the event, Valiente approached Takacs and had asked him what he was doing there. He replied that he was there to learn- how to set a world record. Valiente later congratulated him, saying you have learned.

Takacs won the second gold medal in the same event at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. After the event, Valiente congratulated him again and said “you have learned more than enough now it’s time to teach me”.

In the 1956 Olympics Melbourne, Takacs finished eighth and failed to win a third medal. But his story had given him a place in “Olympic heroes” of the International Olympic Committee.