Ágnes Keleti, a Holocaust survivor and the oldest living Olympic medalist, has died at age 103 following a recent hospitalization.
Keleti, who was hospitalized on Christmas Day in critical condition with pneumonia, died Thursday, Jan. 2, in Budapest, according to the Hungarian state news agency, the Associated Press reported.
Throughout her storied gymnastics career, Keleti earned 10 Olympic medals, five of them gold, at the 1952 Helsinki Games and the 1956 Melbourne Games — all after she was forced off her gymnastics team in 1941 due to her Jewish heritage, according to the AP.
AP Photo/Oded Balilty
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To escape the horrors of the Holocaust, Keleti, who was born in Budapest, hid out in Hungary by taking on a fake identity while working as a maid. However, several relatives, including her father, died in the massacre at Auschwitz, the outlet said.
Keleti’s career stalled due to World War II, the cancellation of the Olympics in 1940 and 1944 and an ankle injury in 1948, but she made a triumphant comeback just a few years later after surviving the Holocaust.
She excelled at the floor exercise, her standout apparatus and where she won a gold medal at the 1952 Games, along with a silver medal and two bronzes when she was 31.
Following the end of her gymnastics career, Keleti spent the later part of her life in Israel, where she worked as an athletic trainer and served as a coach for the Israeli Olympic gymnastics team until the 1990s.
ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty
After the news of her death, the International Olympic Committee spoke of her greatness in the sport of gymnastics.
“Agnes 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,” the Committee said, according to The Guardian.
On her 100th birthday back in 2021, Keleti told the AP how she felt turning a century old. “These 100 years felt to me like 60. I live well. And I love life. It’s great that I’m still healthy.”
Keleti was set to celebrate her 104th birthday on Jan. 9.
