The world’s oldest Olympic Champion, Agnes Keleti, passed away at the age of 103 earlier this week in Budapest, Hungary, after reports indicate that she was hospitalized for pneumonia on Christmas Day. Keleti was born in Hungary in 1921 and was a survivor of the Holocaust. The gymnast would go on to win a gold medal in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.
Throughout her career, Keleti won a total of 10 Olympic medals, five of which were gold. “These 100 years felt to me like 60,” Keleti said to The Associated Press just before her 100th birthday. “I live well. And I love life. It’s great that I’m still healthy.” She added, “I love life. Health is the essence. Without it, there is nothing.” She added, “I loved gymnastics because it was possible to travel for free.”
Commemorating the life of Keleti, author Hen Mazzig wrote on X, “Agnes Keleti, the most decorated Jewish gymnast and a Holocaust survivor, has passed away at 104. Keleti endured unimaginable loss during the Holocaust, losing much of her family. Yet, she emerged as one of the greatest athletes in Olympic history, winning 10 medals — 5 of them gold.”
He continued, “Her story is one of unyielding resilience. Against the odds, she returned to gymnastics, rewriting history and inspiring millions with her strength and grace. Keleti’s legacy is more than her medals; it’s her unwavering spirit in the face of adversity. She will forever be remembered as a symbol of courage and hope. May her memory be a blessing.”
“Hers is an amazing story. She couldn’t compete during her prime because of the Holocaust, but won three Olympic gold medals at age 35–the oldest female gymnast ever to win gold. That’s unbelievable when you think about how gymnasts peak in their teens. May her memory be a blessing,” World Master Jiu Jitsu champion David Cohen said.
The official Olympics website wrote about the famed gymnast, “Ágnes Keleti is the greatest gymnast produced by Hungary, but one whose life and career were intertwined with the politics of her country and her religion. She first became interested in gymnastics shortly before World War II and her training began at the well-known Jewish VAC Club of Budapest. She quickly became a top young gymnast, but her career was interrupted by World War II. During the war, her father was removed to Auschwitz, where he was killed by the Nazis. Ágnes Keleti and the rest of her family survived by finding refuge in a “Swedish House” administered by Raoul Wallenberg, who became quite famous for assisting Jews to escape from concentration camps.”
Highlighting her impressive accolades, the biography continued, “After serving as an alternate in 1948, Keleti competed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games, at which she won 10 medals, including five gold. At the 1954 World Gymnastics Championships she won the uneven parallel bars, for her only individual world title, and also was on the winning Hungarian team in the team portable apparatus event. Keleti won four medals at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, including an individual gold in the floor exercises. But her greatest gymnastics effort came at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when she won six medals, including four gold.”
Featured image credit: Róth Tamás, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keleti_%C3%81gnes_k%C3%B6sz%C3%B6nt%C3%A9se_4_(2019).jpg
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