Winner's medal issued to Hungarian fencer Judit Ágoston-Mendelényi at the Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympics. Gilt silver, 63 mm, 100 gm, by Toshikaka Koshiba (based on the classic design of Giuseppe Cassioli); manufactured by the Japanese Mint. The front is inscribed, "XVII Olympiad Tokyo 1964, Fencing," and features a 'Seated Victory' with the Colosseum in the background; the reverse depicts a victorious athlete being carried by several jubilant athletes. The medal is complete with its original ribbon with Olympic colors and its attractive black lacquer box, the lid of which features the emblem of the Games and one golden dot indicating first place; the box’s hinge is broken and there is wear to the inner lining.
Includes her gold-plated competitor's badge from the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, 38 mm x 63 mm, 46 gm, which features the rising sun of the Japanese national flag above a green bar with Olympic rings and a blue enamel bar identified as “Competitor.” The badge’s solid purple ribbon extends an additional 76 mm. The badge, presented with its original white leather presentation box, includes an original stickpin for the Hungarian national team from the 1964 Tokyo Games.
Other accompaniments include: seven photos of Ágoston-Mendelényi at the Tokyo Games, one of which is signed and another of her wearing her gold medal; a Hungarian national team armband; a purple armband with a vector globe and 1964 in golden thread; a plastic souvenir ‘Tokai Bank’ coin bank from the Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympics; an English-language souvenir of a Japanese fabric booklet scroll, with label reading (transcribed) “Japan’s Four Seasons”; and a black vintage SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) hand fan.
The women’s team foil event of the Tokyo 1964 Summer Games was held at Waseda Memorial Hall on October 16 and 17th, with a total of 47 fencers from 10 competing nations. The event made its Olympic debut four years prior at the 1960 Rome Olympics with the Soviet Union emerging victorious over their Hungarian rivals. However, Judit Ágoston-Mendelényi and her four Hungarian teammates enacted their revenge in Tokyo. They secured a gold medal by ousting the Soviet fencers in the finals with a score of 9 to 7, a victory that laid the foundation for the future of Hungarian women’s fencing. To date, the Hungarian fencing team (men and women) remains one of the most celebrated in Olympic history—only Italy (130) and France (123) have won more Olympic fencing medals than Hungary (90).
