Sandor Tarics, pictured here aged 100 in 2013, is supporting Budapest's bid ©HOC

The oldest living Olympic champion has thrown his weight behind the bid to bring the 2024 Games to the Hungarian capital Budapest.

Sandor Tarics, who is 102-years-old, was a member of Hungary's gold medal winning water polo team at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 and is a natural supporter of his country's efforts to stage sport's biggest event in a little under a decade.

“I am glad Budapest and Hungary is bidding to host the Olympics in 2024 and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the bid will be successful," said Tarics, who lives in San Francisco in the United States.

"I believe that sport is a field of life that creates harmony and friendship through competition.

"I think it is great when nations around the world compete with each other for a sports-related cause.”

Budapest is up against Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome in the 2024 race, with the International Olympic Committee set to make a final decision at their Session in Lima in 2017.

“The competition is always very tough," Tarics added.

"Look at my city, for example.

Hungary have continued to be strong in water polo since Tarics' gold medal winning side, claiming the Olympic title three times in a row between 2000 and 2008
Hungary have continued to be strong in water polo since Tarics' gold medal winning side, claiming the men's Olympic title three times in a row between 2000 and 2008 ©Getty Images

"I have been living in San Fransisco for a long time now.

"Everything is perfect here, the city has had lots of ambitions to host the Olympics in the past, but unfortunately it never had the chance to make it happen.

“I would like to give advice to my fellow Hungarians, but as you can see from this example as well, it can hardly ever be foretold who the final winner of this close and many-faceted race will be.”

Tarics took over as the world's oldest living Olympic champion when Italian cyclist Attilio Pavesi, who won gold in Los Angeles in 1932, died at the age of 100 in 2011.

His Hungarian side won gold ahead of hosts Germany in the water polo in Berlin, with Belgium taking bronze.

The country has maintained a fine record in the sport, winning men's gold at Sydney in 2000, Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008.



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