Four-times Olympian Dénes Varga has been nominated to the EOC Athletes' Committee by the Hungarian Olympic Committee ©Getty Images

Four-time Olympic water polo player Dénes Varga has been recommended by the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) to fill its vacant position on the European Olympic Committees’ (EOC) Athletes’ Committee.

Following the expiry of Hungarian short-track speed skater Viktor Knoch’s mandate on the Athletes’ Committee the MOB responded to a call from the EOC to nominate a new member and has backed the 36-year-old from Budapest who has gold and bronze at the Olympics and two golds and two silvers in the World Championships.

Varga also has a gold, two silvers and three bronze medals from the European Championships.

The decision is due to be made by the EOC’s Athlete Forum to be held in Rome on November 6 and 7.

The MOB received four applications for the nomination, which was decided by a three-member Committee comprising its President Zsolt Gyulay, Pál Schmitt, MOB Honorary President and honorary member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and Olympic swimming gold medallist Daniel Gyurta, IOC member and MOB Board member.

The high point of Varga's career came at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where he helped Hungary defeat the United States in the final.

Water polo player Dénes Varga, pictured left scoring in a group match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, where he helped earn gold, is the Hungarian Olympic Committee's nomination for the vacant position on the EOC Athletes' Committee ©Getty Images
Water polo player Dénes Varga, pictured left scoring in a group match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, where he helped earn gold, is the Hungarian Olympic Committee's nomination for the vacant position on the EOC Athletes' Committee ©Getty Images

Varga was also in the team that won the bronze medal at the re-arranged 2020 Olympic in Tokyo, and won world titles in 2013 and last year, with the latter accomplishment earning a quota place for Paris 2024.

In 2013 Varga, who studied marketing at the International Business School from 2007 to 2011, was chosen by the International Swimming Federation as the top water polo player in the world, and by the European Swimming Federation as the best on the continent.

"I will work with great pleasure to finally realise the common dream of Hungary hosting the Summer Olympics," the 36-year-old Varga wrote in the motivation letter all four candidates were asked to submit to the MOB.

"I also consider it important to create a forum that would help top athletes who have finished their careers with the next challenges of their civilian life after their retirement.

"I would like to give as much support as possible to both active and retired professional athletes as well as sports associations.

"It would be a great honour for me if, by embracing common goals, I could represent the Hungarian interest on the noblest sports diplomacy stage."