'Blood in the water' - Hungary's sporting battle against Soviet oppression

Matthew Knight, CNN

Updated 1608 GMT (0008 HKT) July 12, 2017

Ervin Zador, Hungary's 21-year-old water polo star, emerges from the Olympic swimming pool in Melbourne with blood pouring from a cut beneath his right eye. The "blood in the water" match against the Soviet Union in December 1956 came to represent Hungary's bloody struggle against its Communist oppressors.
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Ervin Zador, Hungary's 21-year-old water polo star, emerges from the Olympic swimming pool in Melbourne with blood pouring from a cut beneath his right eye. The "blood in the water" match against the Soviet Union in December 1956 came to represent Hungary's bloody struggle against its Communist oppressors.
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Zador is led away after the controversial climax to the match against the Soviet Union.
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Zador is led away after the controversial climax to the match against the Soviet Union.
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The victorious Hungarian team including captain Dezso Gyarmati (back row, center) and Ervin Zador, who didn't play in the final, second from the right in the front row.
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The victorious Hungarian team including captain Dezso Gyarmati (back row, center) and Ervin Zador, who didn't play in the final, second from the right in the front row.
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Dezso Gyarmati won the second of his three Olympic gold medals at the Melbourne in 1956.
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Dezso Gyarmati won the second of his three Olympic gold medals at the Melbourne in 1956.
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Protesters mill around a decapitated statue head of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on the streets of the Hungarian capital Budapest.
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Protesters mill around a decapitated statue head of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on the streets of the Hungarian capital Budapest.
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A 15-year-old Hungarian girl armed with a machine gun during protests against the country's communist rulers.
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A 15-year-old Hungarian girl armed with a machine gun during protests against the country's communist rulers.
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Soviet army tanks on the streets of Budapest on November 12, 1956. The quashing of the revolution claimed the lives of 2,000 citizens and injured hundreds more.
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Soviet army tanks on the streets of Budapest on November 12, 1956. The quashing of the revolution claimed the lives of 2,000 citizens and injured hundreds more.
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The revolution also created tens of thousands of refugees. Here, a woman and her three children arrive in Swtizerland after her husband was killed fighting the Soviet forces.
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The revolution also created tens of thousands of refugees. Here, a woman and her three children arrive in Swtizerland after her husband was killed fighting the Soviet forces.
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A member of the Hungarian secret police (the AVO) is dragged along the ground by angry protesters during the revolution.
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A member of the Hungarian secret police (the AVO) is dragged along the ground by angry protesters during the revolution.
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Gergely Kiss, Hungary's modern-day water polo hero, is looking to claim his fourth gold medal at the London Olympics later this year.
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Gergely Kiss, Hungary's modern-day water polo hero, is looking to claim his fourth gold medal at the London Olympics later this year.
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Ervin Zador attending a press conference in 2006 for the documentary "Freedom's Fury," which tells the story of Hungary's sporting and politcal match against the Soviets in 1956.
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Ervin Zador attending a press conference in 2006 for the documentary "Freedom's Fury," which tells the story of Hungary's sporting and politcal match against the Soviets in 1956.
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Story highlights

  • Hungary's water polo match with Soviet Union played against backdrop of revolution
  • Hungary beat Soviets 4-0 in semifinal at Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and went on to take gold
  • Failed revolution claimed 2,000 lives and created hundreds of thousands of refugees
  • Hungary is most successful water polo team at Olympics, winning nine gold medals

(CNN)"Try to imagine the situation," says Dezso Gyarmati, captain of Hungary's 1956 Olympic water polo team.

"A superpower destroys your country with weapons and tanks -- a country that has never asked for that power to be there. And after that revolution is crushed you have to face the representatives of that superpower."
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 became the backdrop to one of the most famous contests in Olympic history, where blood spilled in the sporting arena came to symbolize the bloody struggle of a nation against a brutal oppressor, the former Soviet Union.