Gyere Egérke! Gyere kicsi lány!
Come on Little Mouse! Come on Little Girl!
Krisztina Egerszegi is a one of the greatest Hungarian Olympians. She participated in three Olympics (1988, 1992 and 1996), was the first female swimmer to win five individual Olympic Gold medals. Egerszegi made her international debut at the age of 13 in the 1987 European Aquatics Championships in Strasbourg. Her best finish was fourth in the 200 m backstroke. A year later in the 1988 Summer Olympics, at the age of 14 years and 41 days, she became the youngest-ever female Olympic champion in swimming. In December 1990 won 12 gold medals at the Hungarian National Championships.
At the 1991 World Championships in Perth, she became the first Hungarian female swimmer of all time who won gold medals at the Worlds. A few months later she set world records in the 100 and 200 m backstroke events and won three gold medals. She held the world record in the long course 200 m backstroke for almost 17 years.
In 1994 she announced that she would retire after the World Championships. China won 12 of the 16 gold medals in the women’s events. Some of these Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned drugs later in the year. Egerszegi decided to compete for a further two year stating that her defeat in the world championships were the main reason.
At the 1996 Olympics, her gold medal on the 200 backstroke, she became only the 2nd swimmer to win gold in the same event. Her winning margin in the final was over 4 seconds, the greatest winning margin in any women’s 200 m event. Her record of 5 golds medals was eventually better by Michael Phelps, but was not bettered by a woman until Katie Ledecky topped this in 2021.
It should be noted that Egerszegi could have competed in and won more gold medals. . For example in 1996, Egerszegi did not enter the 100 m backstroke, yet she swam faster than the gold medal winning time, leading off the Hungarian team in the medley relay.
How did she get her nickname. TV commentator Tamas Vitray, coined the phrase “Come on Little Mouse!, Come on little girl” at the Seoul Olympics. In Hungarians Little Mouse is “Egérke” (“Little Mouse”) or “Egér” is Mouse, so it’s a pl;ay on her surname, due to her youthfulness and size.