Mór Kóczán

Who was Mór Kóczán?

Mór Kóczán was a Hungarian athlete and Calvinist pastor. Specialized for the throwing events, his best results came in the javelin throw, having won five Hungarian championship titles between 1911 and 1918. Kóczán also competed for Hungary at the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He produced his best performance in 1912 by winning the bronze medal of the javelin throw event.

Following the World War I, after the borders of Hungary were redrawn, Kóczán, together with hundreds of thousands ethnic Hungarians found himself in the newly created Czechoslovakia. In 1920 he became Czechoslovak champion in the javelin throw and four years later represented the country at the Olympics, where he finished in the 23rd place. Beside athletics he did not forget his pastoral duties and he also urged the local communities to do sports. In 1948 he was deported to Hungary and lived the last decades of his life in Alsógöd, where he died in 1972.