Hungarian Mihály Iglói first distinguished himself in pole vaulting before becoming an expert runner. Like about forty Hungarian athletes at the time, he took advantage of the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 to flee his country, which was suffering Soviet repression after the Budapest uprising. After 14 years in the United States, he finally returned to Europe. This is the ninth episode of our column Olympic Deserters, a parallel history of the Olympic Games, by Cécile Debarge.
Hungarian Mihály Iglói, athletic genius
