page_title: Béla Szepes
section_title: Early life and sporting career
hierarchical_section_title: Béla Szepes / Early life and sporting career
caption_attribution_description: Українська: Бела Сепеш на літній Олімпіаді 1928 English: Szepes Béla at 1928 Summer Olympics
context_page_description: Béla Szepes was a Hungarian skier, athlete, graphic designer and journalist. He competed at the 1924 Winter Olympics and won the silver medal in the javelin throw in the 1928 Summer Olympics. He captured seven Hungarian Athletics Championships and three British Athletics Championships titles.
  Later Szepes had a successful career as a graphic artist, becoming an influential sports cartoonist in Hungary.
context_section_description: Szepes was born in Igló, Austria-Hungary (today Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia) in 1903 and began skiing by the Magyar Turista Egylet in 1918. Five years later he became the first ever Hungarian champion in ski jumping on a hill that was built by the jumpers themselves. He broke the Hungarian record in ski jumping six times during his career, having set his personal best in 1927 with 57 metres.
  At the 1924 Winter Olympics he participated in the 18 kilometre cross-country skiing event and in the Nordic combined but did not finish either of the races.
  Between 1919 and 1931 he was the athlete of Magyar Atétikai Club (MAC), competing in javelin throw. One of the most successful javelin thrower of his time, he won the Hungarian championships seven times in a row from 1925 to 1931. Szepes also set five national records during this period, having achieved his best in 1930 with 66.70 metres. He also regularly participated at the British Athletics Championships, winning the event on three occasions (1925, 1927, 1929).
  In 1928 he was present at the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, where he came second behind Erik Lundqvist with 65.26 metres.
caption: Béla Szepes at the 1928 Summer Olympics
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