Vilmos Kondor:The First Budapest Olympics
This novel by Vilmos Kondor is a thrilling and twist-filled read. Although the way the story was solved was a bit strange for me, I couldn’t put the book down, because it was exciting and full of unexpected situations. And although the story is fiction, it made me feel angry because it is based on real events. What is the human value of sport if competitors are simply seen as racehorses? It is perhaps worth reflecting on the real value of sport and the impact it has on people’s lives.
2024. 22 May. Book experience
1944. 16 October. Up to this date, everything is like the pages of a history book. From here on, it’s all fiction. Are you sure it’s fiction? Actually, yes, but the inspiration came from other history books.
The background to this is that at the end of the Second World War, MiklĂłs Horthy’s son succeeds in concluding a separate peace with the Western powers, after which Hungary becomes a free, capitalist country. In the late sixties, Budapest hosts the Olympics. But the Hungarian swimming star – who was born in the US – dies during a race. There are two love threads: the victim’s girlfriend is an important character in the story, and the Hungarian star detective is not exactly lonely.
A modern-minded protagonist – this time our detective has a very old-fashioned old cop for a partner. János Kádár is the troubled head of the city police station this time too. We repeatedly visit the Csepel Free Port, which exists on the edge of the underworld, and even a small island in Ráckeve. However, the main venue for the Olympics will be Margaret Island. However, in real life, I’d like to see a block of flats where all the walls can be moved by just two people, and there’s a full-fledged park underneath.
For me, the plot started to get interesting where it is revealed that the victim’s death was caused by chemicals. From here on, the whole thing resembles the complexity of an NZ doping scandal. (Rumour has it that the formerly cool East German Olympic girls are now friendly old men.) In our case, it is not clear at first who was motivated by what, and it is also unclear who had what information. So it’s a fascinating read. Oh and romance: that must have been fun with that beautiful blonde woman in the pool under the stars, just the two of us.
I must admit that the way the story was resolved was a bit strange for me, although it was full of unexpected twists and turns. I tried to put myself in the shoes of the deceased athlete’s lover – himself an Olympian. I don’t know what I would have done in his shoes. It couldn’t have been easy for him. But the mother of the girl was repulsive to me from the first moment.
I started reading this book because I liked the previous Vilmos Kondor novel. I didn’t hang up after the first paragraph because it was exciting. A read rich in twists, turns and unexpected situations.
It made me feel angry. Because although the book is fiction, it is based on real events. It is infuriating how these athletes are seen as mere racehorses. It’s infuriating that many times the athletes themselves in the UK didn’t even know what kind of poisonous cocktails they were being fed. What is the human value of sport if children are turned into racing machines with no life to live? Is it still about the love of sport?
