Preparations Start for Military World Games 2015

Lt.-Col. Dr. Zoltán Eleki, Chief PT Instructor, Hungarian Defence Forces, main organizer said that the Hungarian team would include the two most well-known sportsmen, pentathlete Ádám Marosi, Olympic bronze medalist and discus thrower Zoltán Kővágó, Olympic silver medalist, as well as Gábor Bánszki, world and Europe champion in archery, Szilvia Szabó, bronze medalist at European judo championship and the national parachute team of the Hungarian Defence Forces, which has also achieved significant results.

The senior officer of the HDF Training and Doctrine Center added that the Hungarian competitors will enter seven events at the Games, so they are expected to be medalists in track and field and pentathlon. At the World Games, entrants will compete with each other in a total of 24 events. The lieutenant-colonel drew attention to the recent outbreak of the MERS virus in the far-eastern country, but the organizers take special care, so it probably won’t cause problems for the Hungarian competitors, who are to be inoculated before the start of the program.

During the safety briefing, the competitors were requested to understand that all of them are going to represent Hungary in South Korea, so it is very important for them to comply with the local laws and the rules of the Games. He added that they should try to solve potential problems together rather than individually, and report them to their superiors in every case.

Dr. Ágnes Tiszeker, the director of the Hungarian Anti-Doping Group was invited to the meeting, and she told us that all military sportspeople and civilians are subject to the same strict regulations, and in this respect, there is no difference between world games and Olympics. Very probably, the members of the Hungarian team will have to undergo a dope test, she added. The athletes must take special care of taking dietary supplements and the protein powders used for workouts, because these are often contaminated with prohibited substances. Furthermore, they have to take care of taking such everyday medications like diuretics because the latter have already caused problems on some occasions.

The expert emphasized that the tests for the presence of drugs are very strict, and any positive result entails immediate disqualification. It should also be noted that the excessive presence of caffeine and nicotine in the body is also problematic. These substances are not forbidden, but the competitors with extreme amounts of these substances in their bodies are kept under observation; if too many sportsmen started using, for example, caffeine tablet, it would be put on the list of banned substances again, she said.