István Gyulai

Who was István Gyulai?

István Gyulai was a former Hungarian television commentator and General Secretary of the IAAF.

A sprinter during his active athletics career, he was a 28-time national champion. He won two relay medals in two editions of the Universiade: a gold medal over 4 x 100 metres in 1963 and a silver medal over 4 x 400 metres in 1965. He participated in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was part of the Budapest Honvéd sports club.

He started his television career in 1970 on Hungarian television. He led the sport section between 1990 and 1991.

He was a member of the IAAF Council from 1984 until 2001, and from 1991 until his death he was the General Secretary of the IAAF. During his years in the council, he still worked for the Hungarian Television as well. He was a key figure in helping Hungary host major athletics events; among the competitions held in the country were two editions of the IAAF World Indoor Championships, the 1994 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the 1998 European Athletics Championships.

On October 7, 2006, the athletics stadium in Debrecen, Hungary was rededicated the István Gyulai Athletics Stadium in his honour. Five years after his death, the István Gyulai Memorial – Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix was launched in his honour, with his son Marton acting as meeting director.