President János Áder is currently on a week-long tour of Australia and New Zealand, where he attended a 1956 Revolution commemoration event in Melbourne.
The president visited Melbourne's Hungarian Center where he remembered the victory of the Hungarian water polo team against the Soviet team during the 1956 Olympic Games in the city.
MTI reports that the president said Olympic victory showed that, on equal terms, even those who would otherwise be prevented by global powers from winning could indeed triumph.
Despite the Soviet army’s crushing of the Hungarian freedom fight in November, the desire of Hungarians for freedom was not extinguished and resistance remained strong for quite some time. A silent strike was held November 23 and hundreds of armed freedom fighters hid amid the Mecsek hills, he added.
President Áder said Melbourne became an important place for Hungary’s freedom fight because by the time of the Olympics, armed resistance had weakened in Hungary, and the Hungarian water polo team fought in the final match with the awareness that victory could carry a message. “They had to win and indeed they won.”