Hungarian Head Coach Laszlo Kiss Was Jailed For 1960s Sex Crime

In Hungary today, news broke that national team head coach Laszlo Kiss had been convicted and jailed in a gang rape case in 1961.

Hungary’s HVG.hu covers the story here, in Hungarian. Kiss, then a 21-year-old athlete, was charged along with two other men in a sexual assault of a woman.

HVG.hu reports that Kiss and the two men, identified as Laszlo L. and Lajos V., lured the girl to an apartment and refused to let her leave until she had had sexual intercourse with one of the men. The HVG.hu story reports that the men held her down and raped her until she no longer resisted.

All three were eventually convicted of rape and served prison sentences: Laszlo L served 3 years, 2 months, Lajos V. 2 years and Kiss 3 years.

HVG.hu contacted Kiss for comment this week, reporting that he said in a choked voice, “I have a certificate of morality. I have lived my life morally.”

Kiss also spoke to NOL.hu, saying “I have suffered the sin.”

NOL.hu also asked Kiss why the story suddenly became public more than 5 years after the fact. Kiss said he wouldn’t speculate on the subject. VS.hu reports that “it was no secret at all [in swimming circles]” and that many people knew about Kiss’s past before the news broke this week.

It’s been a rough 2016 already for Kiss and the Hungarian swimming federation. Kiss actually resigned his post as national team head coach back in January after world champ Katinka Hosszu criticized the federation publicly. But he returned to his position just four days later after receiving a phone cal from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asking him to reconsider.