Laszlo Cseh

Laszlo Cseh won 3 silvers in Beijing, finishing second to Michael Phelps in the 400m IM, 200m IM and the 200m fly. Ryan Lochte came in 3rd in both IM races, which was a change from the 2007 World Championships where Ryan won silver in the 200IM and Cseh won bronze and in the 400IM where Ryan won silver and Cseh came in 5th. With Michael Phelps supposedly retiring from the 400 IM and possibly from the 200 IM, Cseh is Ryan's biggest competitor in these events.

It's been difficult trying to figure out what Cseh is up to these days. I found the fishing photo on a Hungarian website and tried to translate the text (but failed miserably). What it seemed to say, though, is Laszlo Cseh (on the right, with the dark hair!!) is still relaxing after the Olympics by doing some fishing and eating, and is perhaps a bit out of shape but not fat. My reaction was that Hungary is a little like Wisconsin, what with the hardcore winter fishing, but the river is not frozen and there are no 4x4 trucks out on the ice so it must be a little warmer. I keep imagining there's polka music playing in the background while Laszlo and his friend are fishing.

Cseh did not compete in the 2008 European short-course championships in December, and this fishing photograph was recent, so my guess is he is still on a break but will be returning to training soon.

I read an interview in English after the Olympics where Cseh talked about losing to Phelps and was very gracious. However, he didn't mention Ryan's name as one of his competitors. I will post the article if I can find it because it was a very insightful interview with Cseh, talking about his training, how he earns a living, and even his personal life. I recall that it was on swimnews.com, but that site does not have a search engine so it's been difficult to locate again. :(

The interviewer said Cseh's English had improved dramatically only recently, which made me wonder if that's why Michael and Ryan seemed to talk only to each other to the exclusion of poor Laszlo all those times on the medal stand over the years.