“Thinking About Killing Myself”: When Olympic Fencer, Having Rarest Medals Opened Up About Health Battle

Very few athletes in history can claim to have reached the pinnacle of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Even fewer can say they’ve won at both. But what happens when a life-altering tragedy threatens to erase everything an athlete has worked for? One fencer stood at the peak of his sport, an Olympic medalist with dreams of going even further. Then, in an instant, everything changed.

“I think many guys would choose Plan B, but I chose Plan A.” Pál Szekeres, the Hungarian former fencer, has won three gold and three bronze Paralympic gold medals. The incredible athlete even has one bronze medal to his name that he won at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. His journey, however, was anything but ordinary. At what precise point did his entire future shift course? It was a pivotal event where he needed to decide if he should accept destiny or transform himself.

A viral Reddit post caught attention with a simple yet intriguing question. Does any Olympian have both an Olympic gold medal and a Paralympic gold medal? And in the comments, one name kept appearing that was Pál Szekeres. The story behind his extraordinary achievements is even more interesting. The second phase of Szekeres’ sporting life began in the most harrowing way imaginable. He woke up on a field in Germany, the wreckage of a devastating bus accident around him. Something felt wrong. “I touched my legs, and I didn’t feel anything,” he recalled to paralympic.org. In that instant, his entire world had changed.

The bus accident that occurred in 1991 led to his wheelchair dependence. And so, he picked up his foil once again. But this time, in a wheelchair! The weeks that followed were unbearable. “I was thinking about killing myself. I had the feeling my life ended,” he admitted. His Olympic dreams had vanished, and the future seemed empty. “I told my teammates my life was over because my spine was broken.” It took long dedication to build his dreams with years of relentless training, but now everything seemed to shatter in an instant.

Encouraged by hospital staff, he slowly began to see his wheelchair “not as an enemy but as a friend.” And then, the revelation that would reshape his destiny—he could still fence.

Pál Szekeres won’t call himself a hero, yet history already has

An Olympic bronze medalist at 23 and a three-time Paralympic champion, Pál Szekeres has earned medals in both the games. In addition, he is also a key figure in global adaptive sports. Szekeres’ achievements are far beyond fencing. “When I arrived back from rehabilitation, I realized Hungary was not accessible. It made me a serial fighter for those things,” he added. Everything around him, including the fencing hall and the cinema, was not built for people like him. Determined to break down those obstacles, Szekeres devoted himself to creating a more inclusive Hungary. This proved that his impact would extend far beyond sport.

Just months after his injury, Szekeres defied all expectations. He refused to let his story end there. By November, he had already secured the title of European Wheelchair Champion. “When I won the tournament and became Paralympic champion, all the bad feelings went away,” he shared. “The dream was realized. I could see the continuity of my fencing career. I had new goals, new targets.” It wasn’t the Olympic Games, but Szekeres was still headed to Barcelona. And by the time he left, he had achieved something no other athlete in history ever had, winning medals in both the Olympics and the Paralympics.

Pál Szekeres’ legacy wasn’t just about fencing anymore. It was about rewriting what was possible. It was his love for the sport that kept pushing him forward when everything seemed lost. What do you think about Pál Szekeres’ strong commitment? Let us know your thoughts on this in the comments.