Death of Agnes Keleti: five-time gymnastics gold medalist and Holocaust survivor, the oldest Olympic champion died at 103

Hungarian gymnast Agnes Keleti, the oldest Olympic champion in the world, died Thursday at the age of 103, according to her press secretary, after a life of exodus marked by the trauma of the Shoah. The centenarian died in a hospital in Budapest, Tamas Roth told AFP, confirming information from the country’s leading sports daily, Nemzeti Sport. She was hospitalized last week with pneumonia a few days before her 104th birthday.

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A five-time Olympic gold medalist with an exceptional career, this tireless sportswoman born on January 9, 1921 had an extraordinary life. She won a total of ten Olympic medals, including five golds at the Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956) Olympic Games, all after the age of 30.

Very close to deportation

Agnes Keleti was born in Budapest in 1921 under the name Agnes Klein, then took a Hungarian-sounding surname. Called up to the national team in 1939, the queen of the routines was quickly banned from carrying out any sporting activity because of her Jewish origins.

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After the occupation of Hungary by the Third Reich in March 1944, she escaped deportation by obtaining false documents and assuming the identity of a young Christian, in exchange for all her possessions. While hiding in the countryside, Agnes Keleti worked as a servant but secretly trained on the banks of the Danube when she had some free time.

A family destroyed during the Shoah

His father and several members of his family were deported and exterminated in Auschwitz, while his mother and sister were saved thanks to the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.

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“She demonstrated the power of strong determination and courage to overcome tragedy when born into a Jewish family she survived the Holocaust and won ten Olympic medals including five gold after World War II,” he said. greeted on X the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach.

Like many Hungarian athletes, Agnes Keleti did not return home after the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, which took place a few weeks after the failure of the anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary, and settled in Israel. She only returned to Hungary permanently in 2015.