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John Sumegi
Image Descriptions: John Sumegi was born in Orange and educated at Canobolas High School and Kinross Wolaroi. Under the guidance of his father, John and his sister trained on Lake Canobolas near Orange and both went on to win State and National Championships. John won State and National titles in K1 over 500m every year from age 11 to 19. At the age of 16 he tasted his first international competition when he gained a creditable tenth place in the Junior World Championships in Romania.
John also contested world championships in Switzerland (1973), Bulgaria (1977), Yugoslavia (1978) and West Germany (1979). In West Germany, John won the silver medal in K1 over 500m and was placed fourth in K4 over 1000m.
John teamed with Orange Olympian John Southwood in the build up for the Montreal Olympics and the two local paddlers represented Australia proudly to come into eighth position in the 500m final.
John Southwood retired after Montreal and John Sumegi moved to Melbourne to continue his training. His dedication was rewarded at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 with a silver medal in the K1 500m event and a fourth place in the K1 over 1000m.
Disillusioned by the political pressures and general lack of support for canoeing, John retired after Moscow. However, he was persuaded to make a comeback to try and qualify for the Seoul Olympics in 1988, but after a typical dynamic preparation, John found that the time was against him and he was unfortunate to miss a place for his third Olympics.
John Sumegi moved to Queensland and continued to train young canoeists as head coach of the Institute of Sport.
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