One of the greatest swimmers in the world: Who is Katinka Hosszu?

While she was able to overcome these disappointments and become a top-level swimmer, she suffered a lot.

Entering the pool in Athens in 2004, Hosszu experienced her first Olympic excitement at the age of 15. She achieved her first important international success by winning the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the European Swimming Championships in 2008. In 2009, she was chosen as the female athlete of the year in Hungary and won her first gold medal in the 400 individual medley at the World Championships in the same year.

Katinka Hosszú (born 3 May 1989) is a Hungarian competitive swimmer specialized in individual medley events. She is a three-time Olympic champion and a nine-time long-course world champion. She is owner of a Budapest based swim school and swim club called Iron Swim Budapest, and co-owner and captain of Team Iron, founding member of the International Swimming League.

The year 2012 was a turning point for Hosszu and her career. After the disappointment she experienced in London that summer, she began working with Shane Tusup, whom she met while studying at the University of Southern California. Tusup prepared a heavy training program for Hosszu, based on less training and more racing. Three months after the Olympics, the Hungarian swimmer competed in eight events at the World Short Course Championships and reached the podium in five of them. This also earned Hosszu the nickname 'Iron Lady'.

Hosszu, who married Tusup the following year, won four world championships after the marriage. Underlining that they separated the husband-wife and coach-athlete relationship, the HosszuTusup couple often attracted attention due to their reactions to each other in training. American swimmer Jessica Hardy stated that Tusup's behavior during training was scary. On the other hand, Katinka Hosszu said, “As a coach, she is very tough and difficult. However, she answered the negative criticisms about her husband with the words "He is just as sweet and really fun at home."

While she won the world championship in two branches in 2013, she also broke six world records in the short track. She won the World Cup. She became the first athlete to win more than 1 million dollars in individual races in this organization. In 2015, she was chosen as the European female swimmer of the year with the 17 Hungarian records she broke. While she won the gold medal in the 400 individual medley in Rio 2016, she was approximately 5 seconds ahead of Maya DiRado, who finished the race in second place. She erased the traces of the disappointments she experienced in the previous three Olympics by winning gold medals in the 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley.

Katinka, an influential figure in Hungarian swimming, also played an important role in the resignation of Tomas Gyarfas, who had been president of the Hungarian Swimming Federation since 1993, in November 2016. This decision was influenced by the demands of Hosszu and other top Hungarian swimmers for more transparency, a more democratic environment, and better training conditions.

According to Hosszu, the main reason for the progress in her career is that she is now a stronger athlete, both physically and spiritually. "Before, I was afraid of what would happen if I didn't win," said Katinka Hosszu, who now seems to enjoy competing.