EDITORIAL

startling proclamation to
his colleagues. “I stood up
with a glass of water or
whatever I was drinking and
announced I was not going
home.”
Zador knew he was taking
an enormous risk by coming
out with such a forthright
statement but Hungarian
officials travelling with the
teams were themselves
unsure of the political
situation back home. Zador
was fairly sure that he
wasn’t alone with such
thoughts and felt it was a
risk worth taking.
Once the tournament began
the Hungarian players
progressed in a professional
manner through the group
stages despite uncertainties
over both their own futures
and the current welfare
of their families. Victories
against Great Britain, USA,
Italy and a united German
team saw Hungary face off
in the semi-finals against
the Soviet Union and the
showdown that the players
had been waiting for. The
stage was set for 6th
December and no quarter
was to be given nor asked.
For Hevesi the match was
about revenge. “The fire
inside us was beating so
strongly.”
The crowd was boisterously
partisan, filled with
Hungarian ex-pats living
in Australia, and the team
knew that they had to
take advantage of the
atmosphere. Zador later
said that, “The Hungarians
[in the crowd] were so
charged…all these people
in Australia just went
absolutely berserk.” The
captains from both sides
refused the pre-match
handshake and the
Hungarians decided that,
instead of using physical
violence, they would sledge
their opponents. Russian
was a compulsory language
taught in Hungarian
schools so the team had
no problems in verbally
abusing their opponents.
The simple theory behind
the ploy was that the more
they wound the Soviets
up, the more that their
opponents would want to
start a fight. This would
cause the Soviet team to
lose their discipline and be
open to counter attacks.
This “verbal agitation” - as
Zador playfully called it -
brought about immediate
results as three Soviet
players were sin-binned
along with two Hungarians.
There were acts of violence
both above and below water
and the sledging continued.
“We were yelling at them
‘you dirty bastards, you
come over here and bomb
our country’ and they were
calling us traitors,” Zador
later recalled.
The game’s defining
moment occurred when
Hungary were winning 4-0
with only two minutes
left to play. Zador was
asked to mark Valentin
Prokopov, possibly the
Soviets’ finest player. Zador
felt the request would be
no problem for him. “I’ll
tell him he’s a sorry assed
loser and his mother’s
a loser.” Zador, though,
became distracted by the
referee blowing his whistle
and when he realised his
mistake it was too late. “I
saw that arm coming in my
face and I heard the crack,
suddenly I saw I think 48
stars.” Blood began to pour
from Zador’s face and cloud
the pool. Many Hungarian
fans began to rush down
form their seats in a bid
to attack the Soviet team.
The referee finished the
match and the Soviets were
given a police escort from
poolside.
Hungary progressed to
the final where they beat
Yugoslavia 2-1 without
Zador, who couldn’t play
due to the injury he suffered
whilst being punched; his
wound had required eight
stitches. He did manage to
stand with his team-mates
as they received their gold
medals.
After the match Zador stuck
to his word and defected
to the West, as did others
involved in the team.
Settling in San Francisco,
his participation in water
polo declined and he
instead turned to swimming
and began coaching; one
of his protégés was the
legendary Mark Spitz.
His parents and brother
eventually joined him
in America and his two
children both played water
polo at college level. Zador
never regretted his decision
to defect. “Freedom is
like breathing. Breathing
openly.” He died on April
28th 2012 in Linden,
California.
The match was made into a
film documentary entitled
Freedom’s, released in
2006. Director Megan
Raney stated that the
former players had no
qualms about meeting their
opponents after 50 years.
Time essentially healed the
rift between the thirteen
surviving players and that
the reunion which took
place in 2002 was poignant.
Zador, perhaps most
appropriately, has the final
word. He believed that the
Hungarian players were
playing for far more than
just themselves and their
personal medal collection,
and that even the Soviets
didn’t realise how high the
stakes were. “We felt that
we were playing for not just
for ourselves,” he said. “But
for our whole country.”