László Szollás


László Szollás was a Hungarian world champion and Olympic medalist pair skater.

Early life

Szollas was Jewish. He attended the Ludovika Military Academy in the Horthy era..

Figure skating career

With partner Emília Rotter he won the World Figure Skating Championship four times in five years, and they were the 1932 World silver medalists. They were also the 1934 European Champions, and 1930 and 1931 silver medalists.
They represented Hungary at the 1932 Winter Olympics and at the 1936 Winter Olympics, winning two bronze medals.

Later life

Subsequently he fought against the Soviet Union on the eastern front in WW2. He became a prisoner of war and was imprisoned in a POW camp for 4 years in Siberia. Upon returning to Hungary the Hungarian Stalinist government nationalized nearly all of his assets, including a large rental apartment building in Budapest's 7th district..
After retirement, he attended Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest and earned a medical degree at the Péter Pázmány University and became a sports medicine doctor at the Sport Korhaz in Budapest and a surgeon at the Országos Sportegészségügyi Intézet in Budapest. After the war he returned to Hungary and worked as a physician in the National Institute of Physical Education and Sports Hygiene in Budapest and served as President of the Hungarian Skating Association.

Hall of Fame

He and his partner, Emília Rotter, were elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Competitive highlights

Event19291930193119321933193419351936
Winter Olympic Games3rd3rd
World Championships5th1st2nd1st1st1st
European Championships2nd2nd1st
Hungarian Championships1st1st1st1st1st1st