16 November 2013, Budapest

Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen!

It is with respect that I greet President of the Republic Pál Schmitt, President Tamás Deutsch, the outstanding trainers and athletes present, and every fan and supporter of MTK. I would first of all like to thank Tamás Deutsch for allowing me to not have to talk about money, and so I can stick to the merits of MTK.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, we are celebrating the 125th birthday of one of Hungary's most successful sports associations that has one of the longest histories. MTK is currently in 33rd place on the overall medal list of the world's countries with its 33 Olympic gold medals, ahead of Brazil and India, for instance. During the course of its history, MTK has raised many a World and European champion as a workshop for professional sports. Everyone has heard of Nándor Hidegkuti, Aladár Gerevich, László Papp, Botond Storcz and Katalin Kovács. But you also boast Olympic champions in the field of chess. Wishing someone a happy birthday is always followed by the presentation of a birthday gift, which in this case will be the conceptual and funding agreement we are about to sign with MTK. Through this agreement, we hope to provide the association with the support required to ensure that the next 125 years will be at least as successful as those we are now leaving behind us.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In today's world, sport can mean a take-off point for both individuals and nations. It can open the door to success for disadvantaged children, and to a talented nation with good capabilities such as ourselves, it can even become a workhorse of the economy. Despite this, what we observe in Hungary is that sport remains in an unbalanced state of affairs. We are among the best in the world when it comes to competitive sports: in water polo we won three Olympic golds in a row and the world championships this year; in kayaking and canoeing the international field has been paddling with their faces to our backs for years; we often achieve success in athletics too, and can boast regular, outstanding successes in fencing, pentathlon, handball and a host of other sports. During its 125 years of existence, your association, MTK alone has brought home 304 gold medals, 258 silver medals and 207 bronze medals from the Olympic Games, European and World Championships. This is one side, the more sparklingly shiny side of the coin. The other is that while we look up to our competitive athletes, the Hungarians, both adults and children, are less active and do less sports in comparison to other countries. We are determined to change this state of affairs. It is our view that an inactive lifestyle automatically leads to extenuation and a deterioration in health, which then has a negative effect not only on individuals but on the whole country. A successful, strong country needs healthy people, and sport is essential not just for physical health, but for mental health also. This is why we are spending increasing resources on sport, and this is what our agreement is also about, and why we are constructing more and more new sports facilities. If we have a pond, there will be frogs too, was the Government's idea. This train of thought was also behind our introducing everyday physical education in our schools. Last year, we got 314 thousand children doing regular exercise. This means that they performed at least 182 hours of sports during the 2012-2013 school year.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The future of Hungary lies in our children. The Hungary of the future will be like the children we raise. Accordingly, it is worth following the basic principle that states, if it concerns our children, then nothing is too expensive. When the gold medals are hung around the necks of our competitive athletes at international competitions, we rarely think about the fact that behind each and every gold medal lie thousands of upcoming young child athletes. Hundreds of youngsters who perhaps will not become Olympic champions, but who practice and play sports together with those Hungarians for whom the national anthem is played at the top of the Olympic podium. This new agreement means that we are now paying attention to this huge team, and we are in fact providing resources for them.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When we speak of the medals that Hungarian athletes have won at international competitions, we are talking about results that have been achieved through huge amounts of work, sweat and perseverance. Results that were preceded by years of humble practice, preparation and training. One of your legends, László Papp, said, and I quote: "I arrived at trainings when nobody else was there yet, and I left when everyone had already gone home." Work, work, and even more work. This is what we can all learn from our successful athletes. And we Hungarians, to whom God has given plenty of talent, need to adhere to precisely this principle, to this ethos, during the years ahead.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope that the agreement we are concluding with the Hungarian Athletics Club will fulfil all the expectations we have of it. May it help this illustrious association to create sports opportunities for generations of children to come, and give Hungary many, many more champions.

Go Hungary! Go MTK!

(Prime Minister’s Office)