By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
Earlier today the Hungarian swimming federation posted an inflammatory statement on Instagram explaining the reasoning behind national record holder David Betlehem withdrawing from the World Championships next week.
In the post, the Federation detailed “issues” Betlehem and his teammate Betti Fabian were having with the NC State coaches regarding their ability to swim at the Open Water World Cup next year. They claimed the athletes were told they would not be allowed to compete, and, when they decided to leave, they were banned from training causing Betlehem to feel the need to pull out of the World Champs due to lack of traning.
Braden Holloway, the head coach at NC State responded to SwimSwam’s request for comment, and took it a step further by commenting on the federation’s instagram post, saying this:
“I will not sit back and let this federation put our program and intentions in a bad light. Our history shows our great partnership with countries and we will continue to do so for all internationals moving forward. Absolutely none of this is true. Shame on this post. Based on our meetings with David….
The federation threatened them to return to Hungary- putting a lot of mental stress on the two of them. David and Betti decided it was too risky for them to stay with years ahead- so they left. David stopped swimming to take a break as his mental stress from the federation took a toll. We support open water. In fact, a fellow Hungarian was her second open water meet for her since arriving to campus (Portugal was her first). So kinda funny we “didn’t” support open water since she went to 2 of them in the fall. David didn’t attend any of them as he was sick and lost training time and decided not to go.
The federation stopped financial support for him and the future meets. They threatened to stop entering him in competitions. They also threatened to remove him for opportunities to rep Hungary if he didn’t come back.
The federation treated him poorly and it is a shame they didn’t give him a chance to explore the University system in the states. And when we inquired to speak with the federation about creating a plan to help in the NCAA format and for Hungary swimming and open water- they declined to speak.And open water is something we have done and keep open for our athletes (Hannah Moore won a worlds medal with us during her time on the team).”
Betti Fabian did compete at the final leg of the open water world cup in Saudi Arabia on November 22 and 23rd of this year, missing the NC State Invite to compete. She placed 5th in the open water 10k, going 1:59:25.20.
Hannah Moore was the 5km open water bronze medalist at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, and she transferred to NC State in January of 2016 as a sophomore. She finished out her collegiate career with the Wolfpack, graduating in 2018, and then she remained with the team until her retirement in December of 2019. Moore was an 8-time All-American with the Wolfpack, and her highest NCAA finish was a 3rd in the 1650 in March of 2018.
This is not the first time the Hungarian Swimming Federation has been under fire, they have had numerous issues with star swimmer Katinka Hosszu, who most recently called on their leadership to resign, as she criticized the way the federation, particularly National Team Coach Csaba Sos, treated Kristof Milak after his break from swimming before the recent Olympic Games.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: NC State Coach Responds to Claims About David Betlehem and Betti Fabian