Stephen Kelen
Personal information
Full nameStephen Estaban Kelen
Nationality Hungary
Born(1912-03-21)21 March 1912
Budapest, Hungary
Died1 May 2003(2003-05-01) (aged 91)
Sydney, Australia
EducationCharles University in Prague
Sport
EventTable tennis
Medal record
Men's table tennis
Representing  Hungary
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1929 Budapest Mixed Doubles
Gold medal – first place 1929 Budapest Team
Gold medal – first place 1930 Berlin Team
Gold medal – first place 1931 Budapest Team
Gold medal – first place 1933 Baden Mixed Doubles
Gold medal – first place 1933 Baden Team
Gold medal – first place 1935 Wembley Team
Silver medal – second place 1930 Berlin Mixed Doubles
Silver medal – second place 1931 Budapest Doubles
Silver medal – second place 1932 Prague Team
Silver medal – second place 1933 Baden Doubles
Silver medal – second place 1936 Prague Mixed Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 1930 Berlin Singles
Bronze medal – third place 1935 Wembley Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 1936 Prague Team

Stephen Estaban Kelen OAM (Hungarian: Kelen István; 21 March 1912 – 1 May 2003) was a Hungarian-Australian sportsman, journalist, author, and playwright. He won seven gold medals at the World Table Tennis Championships in the 1920s and 1930s. After moving to Australia in 1939 he had a long writing career in English.

Early life

Kelen was born in Budapest in 1912. He studied philosophy at the Charles University in Prague, and later obtained a diploma from the British Association of Industrial Editors. He wrote professionally from the age of 17 and became fluent in Hungarian, Czech and English.[1]

Table tennis career

Between 1929 and 1936, Kelen won 15 medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the World Table Tennis Championships.[2][3][4] This included seven gold medals: five in the team event and two in the mixed doubles with Anna Sipos at the 1929 World Table Tennis Championships and Mária Mednyánszky at the 1933 World Table Tennis Championships.[5][6]

In the 1930s, Kelen was employed in Prague as a table tennis instructor by the Czech governing body. One of his students was world champion Stanislav Kolář. In 1936, he published Success at Table Tennis, a guide to the sport (1936: 1st edition. UK: Published by Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd).

In Australia

In 1937, Kelen and Miklos Szabados embarked on a two-year table tennis exhibition tour of the Far East and South America. They won the doubles tournament at the Australian national championships, and Szabados defeated Kelen in the singles final. They both chose to settle in Australia permanently.[7] In 1939, Kelen enlisted in the Australian Army. A member of the 66th Australian Infantry Battalion (Intelligence), he served in New Guinea, Halmahera, North Borneo, and finally as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. He was a feature writer for the British Commonwealth Occupation Newspaper (BCON).[1]

Back in Australia, Kelen worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as an author and journalist, writing documentaries and features. He later worked for Goodyear as a managing editor. He was president of the Sydney branch of PEN International (1975–1985), and a life member of the Australian Journalists Association. He won awards for short stories and plays that he authored. In 1983, he published an autobiography, I Remember Hiroshima.[1]

Personal life

Kelen is the father of academic Christopher Kelen and poet S. K. Kelen.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Stephen Estaban Kelen". AustLit. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  2. ^ "ITTF_Database". Archived from the original on 16 October 2012.
  3. ^ "Table Tennis World Championship medal winners". Sports123.
  4. ^ "Profile". Table Tennis Guide.
  5. ^ Montague, Trevor (2004). A-Z of Sport, pages 699-700. The Bath Press. ISBN 0-316-72645-1.
  6. ^ Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results, pages 309-312. Guinness Superlatives. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.
  7. ^ Cashman, Richard I. (2002). "Szabados, Miklos (Nicholas) (1912–1962)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
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