Tibor Benedek (12 July 1972 – 18 June 2020) was a Hungarian professional

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with t ...

player and coach, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He played on the gold medal squads at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

, 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics. Benedek also competed at the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

and 1996 Summer Olympics, where the Hungarian team placed 6th and 4th, respectively. Benedek was the head coach of

Hungary men's national water polo team The Hungary men's national water polo team represents Hungary in international men's water polo competitions and is controlled by the Hungarian Water Polo Association. It is considered the world's top power in the history of water polo, having wo ...

between 2013 and 2016. Benedek was named ''Hungarian Water Polo Player of the Year'' in 1992, 1993 and 1994. He made his debut for the national side in 1990. His father,

Miklós Benedek Miklós Benedek (28 September 1946 – 9 January 2024) was a Hungarian actor and writer. He is most noted for his role of ''Mr. Fritz Teufel'' in the 1986 movie Cat City. Early life Miklós Benedek was born on 28 September 1946. His father Ti ...

, is an actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest water polo players of all time, Benedek ranks second on the all-time scoring list in Olympic history, with 65 goals. He was the joint top goalscorer at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, with 22 goals, and the top goalscorer at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, with 19 goals. Benedek is the ninth player to compete in water polo at five Olympics, and one of ten male athletes who won three Olympic gold medals in water polo. In 2016, he was inducted in the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the st ...

. Tibor Benedek died on 18 June 2020 due to pancreatic cancer. His death was announced by the

Hungarian Water Polo Federation The Hungarian Water Polo Federation ( hu, Magyar Vízilabda Szövetség, MVLSZ) is the governing body of water polo in Hungary. It was founded in 1989, and is the successor to the Magyar Úszó Szövetség, with the swimmers. The Hungarian Wate ...

Honours

As player

National

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

Gold medal –

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Gold medal –

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

;

Silver medal – 1998, 2007; Bronze medal world centered-2

Bronze medal – 1991 * European Championship: Gold medal europe

Gold medal –

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

;

Silver medal – 1993, 1995; Bronze medal europe

Bronze medal – 2001, 2003, 2008 * FINA World League: Gold medal blank

Gold medal –

;

Silver medal – 2007; Bronze medal blank

Bronze medal – 2002 * FINA World Cup: Gold medal blank

Gold medal –

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

;

Silver medal – 1993, 2002; Bronze medal blank

Bronze medal – 1997 384 present in the national team of Hungary * Junior World Championships: (Bronze medal – 1991) * Junior European Championship: (Bronze medal – 1990) * Youth European Championship: (Gold medal – 1989)

Club

Újpest * Hungarian Championship (4x): 1990–91,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

, 1993–94, 1994–95 * Hungarian Cup (2x): 1990–91, 1992–93 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

(1x): 1993–94 *

LEN Cup The LEN Euro Cup is the second-tier European water polo club competition run by the Ligue Européenne de Natation for those clubs who did not qualify for the LEN Champions League. The cup was inaugurated in 1992. History Names of the competitio ...

(1x): 1992–93 *

LEN Super Cup The LEN Super Cup is an annual water polo match organized by LEN and contested by the reigning champions of the two European club competitions, the LEN Champions League and the LEN Euro Cup. From 1976 to 2002, the LEN Super Cup was contested bet ...

(1x): 1994 Racing Roma * Scudetto

Italian Championship (1x): 1998–99 * LEN Cup Winners' Cup ''runners-up'': 1996–97 Pro Recco * Scudetto

Italian Championship (1x): 2001–02 * LEN Euroleague (1x): 2002–03 Bp. Honvéd * Hungarian Championship (3x): 2004–05, 2005–06 * Hungarian Cup (1x): 2006 * Hungarian Super Cup (1x): 2005 Pro Recco * Scudetto

Italian Championship (5x): 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12 * Coccarda Coppa Italia

Italian Cup (4x): 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11 *

LEN Champions League The LEN Champions League is the top-tier European professional water polo club competition with teams from up to 18 countries. It is organized by the Ligue Européenne de Natation. The competition started in 1963 as European Cup. A change of nam ...

(3x): 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12 *

(3x): 2007, 2008, 2010 *

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mac ...

(1x): 2011–12

As head coach

(2013–2016) *

Gold medal –

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

* European Championship: Silver medal europe

Silver medal – 2014; Bronze medal europe

Bronze medal – 2016 * FINA World League: Silver medal blank

Silver medal – 2013, 2014 * FINA World Cup: Silver medal blank

Silver medal – 2014

Awards

*''Total-waterpolo'' magazine's man water polo "World Player of the Year's2000–20" award *Member of the Best Team of the Year's in the World by ''total-waterpolo'' 2000–20 * Masterly youth athlete: 1991 * Hungarian Water Polo Player of the Year: 1992, 1993, 1994, 2002 * Member of the Hungarian team of year: 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008 * Honorary Citizen of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

(2008) * Hungarian head coach of the Year: 2013 * Member of

(2016) ;Orders * HUN Order of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) 4class BAR