Imre Mudin (8 November 1887 – 23 October 1918) was a Hungarian teacher,

track and field athlete Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

and soldier. An all-around sportsman, he won national titles in shot put, discus throw and javelin throw as well. Mudin was present at the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

and the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

, achieving his best result, a sixth place in shot put at the latter one. From 1914, he fought in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

for the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

. He died in the

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

for the control of the Monte Grappa massif on the Italian front. His brother István Mudin was also an athlete and the flagbearer of Hungary at the 1908 Olympic Games.

Early life

He was born in

Kétegyháza Kétegyháza (; ) is a large village in Békés County, in the Southern Great Plain region of south-east Hungary. It is one of the main centres of Hungary's Romanian minority. Jews lived in the village in the 19th century and in 1944 many of th ...

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

to Albert Mudin, a hatmaker, who was originally from France, and Róza Hécsel. Imre was the youngest of six siblings, with two sisters (Mária and Sarolta) and three brothers (Albert, István and Béla Albert). Except István, all of his siblings died before reaching adulthood. Mudin attended the elementary school in his hometown before moving to Arad to earn civil and teaching qualifications.Kalcsó, p. 18. He graduated as a teacher in 1911 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

and got a position by a boys' school in

Nagyatád Nagyatád is a town in Somogy County, Hungary and the seat of Nagyatád District. ''Bodvica'', ''Henész'' and ''Kivadár'' are parts of Nagyatád. Etymology Its name derives from the Turkish word ''ata'' (, ). Geography It lies on the southern ...

.Kalcsó, p. 40.

Athletics career

Mudin, a member of the Magyar Atlétikai Club since he was 18, began to practice shot put under the guidance of his brother. He soon excelled with his performances, having broken the Hungarian national record at an Olympic test event in June 1908 with 12.88 metres. At the 1908 Olympic Games he took the seventh place in the freestyle javelin throw and also participated in the Greek discus throw competition and in the discus throw event, however, his final ranking is unknown in both competitions. Four years later, yet as the competitor of Nagyatádi Atlétkiai Club, he finished sixth in the shot put competition. Among his successes were nine national titles in the shot put (1908–1914, 1916–17), and two each in the discus throw (1910, 1916) and the javelin throw (1916–1917). Mudin finished third behind Armas Taipale in the shot put event at the British 1914 AAA Championships. Besides competing in athletics, Mudin was also a mathematics, physics, and natural history teacher in Nagyatád. Upon arriving at the school in 1911, he augmented the insect collection with 200 prepared butterflies. As a sportsman, he called for an active sporting life and had an imperishable role in the development of community sports activities in

Somogy County Somogy (, ; ; , ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Somogy County lies in south-western Hungary, on the border with Croatia's Koprivnica- ...

. In 1912, he organized the first sports competition for boys' schools in the county, which later became a traditional contest. In 1913 Mudin relocated from Nagyatád to

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in southwestern Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvár District and th ...

where he taught in the local school that today bears the name of

Dániel Berzsenyi Dániel Berzsenyi (; 7 May 1776 in Hetye (now Egyházashetye) – 24 February 1836 in Nikla) was a Hungarian poet.Trencsenyi, Balazs & Michal Kopecek, eds. ''Discourse of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe.'' New York: Central E ...

. He joined

a year later.

Death and legacy

Mudin was assigned to the 101st Infantry Regiment of the

in sub-lieutenant rank. He began active service on 11 August 1914.Kalcsó, p. 68. For his commitments on the battlefield, he was awarded the Silver Medal of Bravery 1st Class in 1915. He did not cease practising athletics while in the army, and in 1916 and 1917, he got permission to leave for the period of the

Hungarian Athletics Championships The Hungarian Athletics Championships () are an annual outdoor track and field competition organized and supervised by the Hungarian Athletics Association, which serves as the Hungarian national championships for the sport. History The history of ...

, winning a treble in 1916 (discus throw, javelin throw, shot put) and a double in the following year (javelin throw, shot put). In May 1918, Mudin was promoted to first lieutenant. He died on 23 October 1918 in the

battle of Monte Grappa The Battles of Monte Grappa were a series of three battles which were fought during World War I between the armies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy for control of the Monte Grappa massif, as it covered the left flank of ...

. He was shot by a marksman while retreating and fell into an abyss. Mudin's body was not found and was declared missing. Mudin left behind a widow, Melina Pavlovlits, an opera singer. The two married in 1915 and had no children. Pavlovits never married again and died in

in 1991. Today the stadium of Nagyatád bears the name of Imre Mudin, and the sports hall of Kétegyháza was named in the honor of the Mudin brothers and known as Mudin Sports Hall since 2008.Kalcsó, p. 93.

References

Notes

External links

Profile
at the Hungarian Olympic Committee * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mudin, Imre 1887 births 1918 deaths People from Kétegyháza Hungarian male discus throwers Hungarian male javelin throwers Hungarian male shot putters Hungarian people of French descent Olympic athletes for Hungary Athletes (track and field) at the 1908 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Austro-Hungarian military personnel killed in World War I Austro-Hungarian Army officers Athletes from Békés County