Budapest, July 1 – Pal Schmitt a double Olympic gold medallist, IOC member and NOC President, has been elected last June 29 as the new President of Hungary. The 68-year-old former fencer, who had been speaker of the new Parliament, was nominated by the governing Fidesz-Christian Democratic party alliance and received 263 votes vs. 59 to his  Socialist challenger Andras Balogh. Last year Schmitt was voted one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament. Seen as a loyalist to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he will assume his new role on August 6, as the term of current President Laszlo Solyom expires.

After winning Olympic gold medals in the team epee event at Mexico City in 1968 and Munich in 1972, Schmitt started his political career in 1983 as Deputy Director of the National Office of Physical Education and Sports. The same year he was elected as a member of the IOC. He served as vice-president of the IOC from 1995 until 1999. Candidate to the IOC Presidency in Moscow in 2001, he finished fourth.

Schmitt served as Hungarian Ambassador in a number of countries, including Spain and Switzerland.