She competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1972, 1976 and 1980 and won the gold medal in women's pentathlon at the 1978 European Championships.

[2] At the 1978 European Championships in Prague Papp scored 4655 points and won the gold medal.

[4] Papp made a final Olympic appearance in 1980, placing fifth with 4562 points.

[2] In the 1978 European Championships and the 1980 Olympics she also competed in the long jump, failing to qualify for the final on either occasion.

[1] Note that after 1980 the women's pentathlon was replaced by heptathlon in the Hungarian Athletics Championships program