Death of Agnès Keleti, oldest Olympic champion, at the age of 103

© Laszlo Balogh/AP/SIPA

Agnès Keleti, gymnastics legend and Holocaust survivor, died in Budapest at the age of 103. With her ten Olympic medals, she is a sporting legend.

Born on January 9, 1921 in Budapest, Agnès Keleti, whose real name was Agnès Klein, made her mark in the history of gymnastics. With ten Olympic medals, including five gold, she remains one of the greatest figures in her sport. However, his journey has been far from simple. The sportswoman started gymnastics at just 4 years old, and her talent quickly propelled her into a high-level sporting career. Called up for the Hungarian national team in 1939, she had to give up her dreams the following year, due to her Jewish origins. In the middle of World War II,she survives thanks to false papers and hides in the countrysidedespite everything continuing his training in secret.

Death of Olympic champion Agnès Keleti at 103: a remarkable sporting career

After the war, she returned to competition. It was in Helsinki in 1952 that she won her first Olympic gold medal, at age 31, an unusual age in this physically demanding sport. She also won three other medals. Four years later, at the 1956 Melbourne Games, she achieved the feat of winning four additional gold medals, making her one of the most successful gymnasts in history.

Death of sportswoman Agnès Keleti: she was a Holocaust survivor

Coming from a Jewish family, her career was interrupted because of anti-Semitic laws in 1940. During the Second World War, she escapes persecution thanks to false papers and by hiding in the countrysidewhile his father was deported and murdered in Auschwitz. After the war, she returned to training and quickly rose to rank among the best gymnasts in the world. However, in 1956, during the Hungarian uprising, she chose not to return to Hungary, preferring to settle in Israel, where she contributed to the development of local gymnastics as a coach. Until her last days, the sportswoman was grateful for her exceptional life. On her hundredth birthday, she declared to AFP: “It was worth doing something good in life considering the attention I received.”

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