Agnes Keleti, holder of 10 Olympic medals and considered one of the greatest Jewish athletes in history, winner of the Israel Prize, died Thursday at the age of 103. Agnes Keleti was the Jewish gymnast with the most medals at the Olympic Games, with 5 gold medals, 3 silver, 2 bronze, won in two Olympics under the colors of Hungary, in 1952 in Helsinki and in 1956 in Melbourne.
She was an Olympic champion on floor (1952, 1956), beam, uneven bars and team (1956). She also won the world champion title in Rome in 1954, where she also won silver and bronze medals. In 1957, she participated in the Fifth Maccabiah Games before immigrating to Israel, where she became, among other things, coach of the women's national gymnastics team.
In 1981, she was inducted into the Israeli Sports Hall of Fame. A decade later, she was inducted into the Hungarian Sports Hall of Fame and in 2002 into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. In 2017, she received the Israel Prize for Sport and Physical Culture. At the age of 96, she returned to live in Hungary, near her son.
After her sporting career, she immigrated to Israel and developed her sport there as a coach and teacher. She coached the Israeli national team, trained a generation of gymnastics coaches and led gymnasts to the Olympic Games.
In 2021, it was decided that the Israeli Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championship would now bear her name. Last year, a conference room was opened at the Wingate Institute in her honor, attended by Agnes's friends and acquaintances, sports leaders and the Hungarian ambassador to Israel, who came tell and listen to his actions and achievements. The Israel Gymnastics Federation honored the memory of “gymnastics legend Agnes Keleti, the most decorated Jewish gymnast of all time.”
