Agnes Kelethy, the oldest Olympic champion from Hungary, has passed away. The world-famous gymnast was 103 years old.
Keleti died on January 2 in a Budapest hospital. Last week, she was hospitalized with pneumonia. The athlete’s son, Rafael Biro-Keleti, told the press that the family wanted to celebrate her 104th birthday on January 9 together.
Agnes became the most successful gymnast in Hungary. She took up the sport primarily to break free of the Iron Curtain of the communist-ruled country.
In 1940, Keletha was banned from participating in sports because of her Jewish background. After the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany in March 1944, she escaped deportation to a camp. The gymnast received false documents in exchange for all her belongings and posed as a young Christian woman. Her father and some relatives were killed in Auschwitz, but the champion’s mother and sister were saved.
Keleti won ten Olympic medals before age 30, outperforming her younger competitors. She won gold five times, including in Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in 1956.
She later settled in Israel, where she worked as a physical education teacher, coached the national team, and started a family. Agniesz returned to her homeland in 2015.