| Birth Date: | 17 May 1995 | ||||||||
| Birth Place: | Tomášikovo, Slovakia | ||||||||
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Viliam Tankó (born 17 May 1995) is a Slovak boxer and politician. Since 2023 he has served as an MP of the National Council of Slovakia.
Viliam Tankó was born on 17 May 1995 in the village of Tomášikovo, nearby the town of Galanta. He is of Romani ethnicity. Following the divorce of his parents, he was raised by a single mother in extreme poverty, living together with his three siblings in a small cottage with broken windows and no running water.[1] He started boxing as an eight years old. His talent got noticed by the boxers Ladislav Karacsóny and Tomáš Kovács, who took young Viliam under their wings and helped him develop as a boxer in Galanta.[2]
After graduating from high school, Tankó enrolled at the Police Academy. Nonetheless, he later abandoned his studies to focus on his boxing career. As of 2023 he studies social work at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra.
Tankó participated at the Youth and Junior World Boxing Championships in 2011 and 2013 and Youth European Championship in 2013. He won bronze medals at the 2014 European Union Amateur Boxing Championships in Sofia and 2015 European Games in Baku.[3] He also competed at the 2019 European Games in Minsk and 2023 European Games in Kraków, finishing respectively unranked and ninth.
In the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election Tankó won a seat in the parliament on the list of Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) party.[4]
While campaigning before the election, a bar in Spišská Nová Ves refused to serve Tankó, his pregnant partner and Romani OĽaNO MP Peter Pollák coffee because of their race. The racist conduct of the bar staff resulted in a widespread condemnation.[5]
Tankó has been in a relationship with the 2023 Miss Universe pageant contestant Vanessa Gáborová since 2020.[6] In July 2023 they announced they expected their first baby.[7]