WHY HUNGARY IS SO GOOD AT WATER POLO

ARRIVING HOME A WORLD champion in the summer of 2023, Hungarian water-polo player Vince Vigvari got a taste of the rock-star life.

- SEAN GREGORY

After a long flight from Fukuoka, Japan, Vigvari and his teammates hopped on a bus to a victory rally at a Budapest pool. A few weeks later, he attended a music festival at Lake Balaton. "At least 50 people came up to me to take a picture," says Vigvari, 21.

"Young girls and guys, middle-aged women, men. I can't lie. It was a good feeling." Water polo, a sport that receives scant attention in most countries, is a national pastime for Hungarians. Hungary has won nine men's Olympic gold medals, more than twice as many as the next most successful country, Britain (four, most recently in 1920). It also owns four world championships, tied with Italy for tops on the planet.