The three professors from the University of Debrecen (István Bitskey, Gyula Batta and Zoltán Erdélyi) are all members of Debreceni Szenior Úszóklub [Debrecen Senior Swimming Club].
Academician István Bitskey, a Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Humanities, comes from a veritable swimming dynasty: Bitskey Aladár Uszoda [Aladár Bitskey Swimming Pool] in the city of Eger was named after his father. After winning 35 national championships, he was granted the title szenior úszás örökös bajnoka [permanent champion of senior swimming] in 2013. In 2007, he was ranked 7th at the European Championships. At the 17th FINA World Masters Championships in Budapest, he will be competing in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly events, while he is also in the Debrecen male medley relay team of the highest age group.
Physicist Gyula Batta is the Head of Szerkezeti Biológiai Kutatócsoport [Structural Biology Research Group] at Kémiai Intézet Szerves Kémiai Tanszék [Department of Organic Chemistry of the Institute of Chemistry]. He has been a senior swimmer since 2005. In 2006, he swam more than 1000 kilometers. He is a fourteen-time national champion in various events of senior swimming. In 2015, he was ranked 10th in Europe in the event of 200 m butterfly. He qualified for the World Championships in 100 m and 200 m butterfly.
Physicist Zoltán Erdélyi is Head of Szilárdtest Fizikai Tanszék [Department of Solid State Physics] at UD. He has been a senior swimmer since 2016, with several national championship gold and other medals won. He has qualified to enter the World Championships events of 50 m and 100 m freestyle as well as 50 m breaststroke.
Senior swimmers will be competing in several age groups at the world championships held between August 7 and 20, which means the baffling number of 15 thousand participants. There are also going to be former world-class athletes among the entrants, making the competition a lot harder. The members of the UD team have set the following objectives for themselves at this contest: performing better than their average times and achieving decent enough results.
Find further information on the events of the 17th FINA World Masters Championships at the following link:
http://www.fina.org/event/17th-fina-world-masters-championships
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