Mary Kok and Willem Honneiber, members of the Dutch Olympic team at the time of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight, and their fellow athletes boycotted the 1956 Melbourne Olympics out of solidarity with Hungary.
As part of the 1956 memorial year, the veteran athletes were invited for a conference organised in their honour. Fourteen Dutch, Spanish and Swiss Olympian arrived in Budapest for the ’Dank! Merci! Graciás’ programme series. The athletes, who refused their attendance on the Olympic Games to protest against the oppression of the revolution in 1956 by Soviet troops, have visited the House of Terror as well.
The Dutch swimmer Mary Kok set nine world records between 1954 and 1957 and she had high hopes about the Melbourne Olympic Games being in her best form and she was unable to get over the loss of her dreams for a long time. According to her account, ‘letting go’ and accepting what had happened could only be accomplished 60 years after.
Willem Honneiber was preparing for the Melbourne Olympic Games as a member of the Dutch field hockey team. By now he can fully agree with the boycott in 1956. The year of 1956 brought a dramatic turn in the life of the best athletes of the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Many of them, like Mary Kok and Willem Honneiber, had to give up a lifetime ambition for showing solidarity towards Hungarians. We are truly grateful for their sacrifice.