Historic photograph taken in Mexico City during the 1968 Olympic Games. 

Koszta Laci (right), with Coach Lovas Peter (left) and Anca Andrei, backstroker from Resita

Photo taken from "Cronica Inotului Sportiv Resitean", Vol. 1 (1924-1984), by Franz Konig

          KOSZTA LACI - BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

• Born in 1947

• First coached by Theodor "Titi" Schaed

• Coach Lovas Peter's most successful swimmer ever

• Emerged in 1965 as Romania's top breaststroker

• Romanian national champion (100 and 200 meter breaststroke, 1966-1970)

• First major international competition: Rome, Italy, circa 1965

• Olympic semifinalist, 100 meter breaststroke, Mexico City, 1968 (13th place overall)

• Olympic semifinalist, 200 meter breaststroke, Mexico City, 1968 (11th place overall)

• Semifinalist in the European Swimming Championships (circa 1967-1969)

• Romanian record holder, 100 meter breaststroke (1:08:50) (circa 1968)

• Awarded the honorary title of "Maestru al Sportului" (1969)

• Shamelessly renamed Costa Vasile by the official sports media

• Great rivalry with Bucharest's Angel Sopterian

• B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering (Facultatea de Electrotehnica, Timisoara, 1971)

• Left Romania during the late 1970's

• Settled in the New York area 

• Multilingual (Romanian, Hungarian, English)

   KOSZTA LACI'S OLYMPIC RESULTS - MEXICO CITY, 1968  

100 Meter Breaststroke - Preliminary Heats - October 18, AM

Forty two swimmers, competing in six preliminary heats

Best twenty four times qualify for the semifinals

Koszta Laci swam in Heat no. 3

Placed second in his heat, with a time of 1:10.1

Made the semifinals with the 14th best time of the preliminary round

100 Meter Breaststroke - Semifinals - October 18, PM

24 swimmers, competing in three heats

Best 8 times qualify for the finals

Koszta Laci swam in Heat no. 2

Placed fifth in his heat, with a time of 1:09.8

Finished 13th overall, thus not making the finals (last qualifying time: 1:09.0)

Gold medal won on October 19 by Donald McKenzie (USA) with a time of 1:07.7

200 Meter Breaststroke - Preliminary Heats - October 21

39 swimmers, competing in five heats

Best 8 times qualify for the finals

Koszta Laci swam in Heat no. 4

Placed fourth in his heat, with a time of 2:36.4

Finished 11th overall, thus not making the finals (last qualifying time: 2:34.2)

At 100 meters, Koszta Laci had the fastest split time of all swimmers (1:11.6)

Gold medal won on October 22 by Felipe Munoz (Mexico) with a time of 2:28.7