Attila Vajda

Attila Vajda (born 17 March 1983 in Szeged) is an athlete from Hungary. He competes in flatwater canoeing.

Vajda was a European junior champion in 2000, winning the Canadian canoe C-2 1000m title with Démász-Szeged team-mate Marton Joob in Boulogne, France. In 2002 the pair came second at the European under-23 championships in Zagreb, Croatia in the same event.

Hungarian coach Zoltan Angyal was confident of Vajda's ability but took the decision not to give him his senior international debut in 2002 or 2003. In 2004, Angyal was still keeping his cards close to his chest. The Hungarian team did not take part in the early season international regattas: at the European Championships Hungary was represented in the C-1 races by Márton Joób and Sándor Malomsoki. Angyal then shocked his rival coaches by selecting Vajda as his "secret weapon" for the 2004 Olympics in Athens C-1 1000m.

In his initial heat with a time of 3:57.290, qualifying for the semifinals. There, he placed second, this time at 3:52.236, advancing to the final round. Vajda finished slightly more than 2 behind the top two finishers (David Cal and Andreas Dittmer), but beat out ex-Olympic champion Martin Doktor by over a second to claim a shock bronze medal with a time of 3:49.025.

Hungary is one of the few countries in the world where flatwater canoers have the status of stars known to the general public and Vajda suddenly found himself the new "golden boy" of Hungarian canoeing. His performances in 2005 suffered as a result of these distractions; he started the season overweight and failed to make the podium in any major international race.

In 2006, however, he won the national title over all three distances and beating a top-class international field at Duisburg in May. Injury prevented him from appearing at the European championships, but he was determined not to miss the 2006 World Championships, held in his hometown of Szeged. He recovered in time to take the C1 1000m bronze medal behind surprise winner Everardo Cristóbal of Mexico and Germany's Andreas Dittmer.