Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Ágnes Keleti, Holocaust Survivor and Oldest Living Olympic Medal Winner, Dies at 103
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 days ago on
January 2, 2025

Agnes Keleti, former Olympic gold medal winning gymnast, smiles at her apartment in Budapest, Hungary Wednesday Jan. 8, 2020. (AP/Laszlo Balogh)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

BUDAPEST — Ágnes Keleti, a Holocaust survivor and the oldest living Olympic medal winner, has died. She was 103.

Keleti died Thursday morning in Budapest, the Hungarian state news agency reported. She was hospitalized in critical condition with pneumonia on Dec. 25.

Olympic Triumph Amid Adversity

She won a total of 10 Olympic medals in gymnastics, including five golds, for Hungary at the 1952 Helsinki Games and the 1956 Melbourne Games. She overcame the loss of her father and several relatives in the Holocaust to become one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes.

“These 100 years felt to me like 60,” Keleti told The Associated Press on the eve of her 100th birthday. “I live well. And I love life. It’s great that I’m still healthy.”

Surviving the Holocaust

Born Ágnes Klein in 1921 in Budapest, her career was interrupted by World War II and the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics. Forced off her gymnastics team in 1941 because of her Jewish ancestry, Keleti went into hiding in the Hungarian countryside, where she survived the Holocaust by assuming a false identity and working as a maid.

Her mother and sister survived the war with the help of famed Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, but her father and other relatives perished at Auschwitz, among the more than half a million Hungarian Jews killed in Nazi death camps and by Hungarian Nazi collaborators.

Olympic Success and Exile

Resuming her career after the war, Keleti was set to compete at the 1948 London Olympics, but a last-minute ankle injury dashed her hopes.

Four years later, she made her Olympic debut at the 1952 Helsinki Games at the age of 31, winning a gold medal in the floor exercise as well as a silver and two bronzes. In 1956, she became the most successful athlete at the Melbourne Olympics, winning four gold and two silver medals.

While she was becoming the oldest gold medalist in gymnastics history at age 35 in Melbourne, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary following an unsuccessful anti-Soviet uprising. Keleti remained in Australia and sought political asylum. She then immigrated to Israel the following year and worked as a trainer and coached the Israeli Olympic gymnastics team until the 1990s.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Is Your Car Spying on You? What It Means That Tesla Shared Data in Las Vegas Explosion

DON'T MISS

Can California Keep ICE Away from Schools? Lawmakers Want to Try as Crackdowns Loom

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Announces Algorithm Change to Reduce Negativity on X

DON'T MISS

Indie Filmmaker Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza’s Husband, Found Dead at Los Angeles Residence

DON'T MISS

Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza Kill at Least 21, Hospital Workers Say

DON'T MISS

Newsom Executive Order Targets Ultra-Processed Foods, Synthetic Dyes

DON'T MISS

Net Neutrality Rules Struck Down by Appeals Court

DON'T MISS

Taiwan Says China Is Redoubling Efforts to Undermine Democracy With Disinformation

DON'T MISS

LeBron James Breaks Michael Jordan’s Record for 30-Point Games With His 563rd

DON'T MISS

Japanese Woman Who Was the World’s Oldest Person at 116 Has Died

UP NEXT

Can California Keep ICE Away from Schools? Lawmakers Want to Try as Crackdowns Loom

UP NEXT

Elon Musk Announces Algorithm Change to Reduce Negativity on X

UP NEXT

Indie Filmmaker Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza’s Husband, Found Dead at Los Angeles Residence

UP NEXT

Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza Kill at Least 21, Hospital Workers Say

UP NEXT

Newsom Executive Order Targets Ultra-Processed Foods, Synthetic Dyes

UP NEXT

Net Neutrality Rules Struck Down by Appeals Court

UP NEXT

LeBron James Breaks Michael Jordan’s Record for 30-Point Games With His 563rd

UP NEXT

Japanese Woman Who Was the World’s Oldest Person at 116 Has Died

UP NEXT

How Congress Will Certify Trump’s Electoral College Victory on Jan. 6

UP NEXT

Hillary Clinton, George Soros and Denzel Washington Will Receive the Highest US Civilian Honor

Indie Filmmaker Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza’s Husband, Found Dead at Los Angeles Residence

4 hours ago

Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza Kill at Least 21, Hospital Workers Say

4 hours ago

Newsom Executive Order Targets Ultra-Processed Foods, Synthetic Dyes

7 hours ago

Net Neutrality Rules Struck Down by Appeals Court

7 hours ago

Taiwan Says China Is Redoubling Efforts to Undermine Democracy With Disinformation

7 hours ago

LeBron James Breaks Michael Jordan’s Record for 30-Point Games With His 563rd

8 hours ago

Japanese Woman Who Was the World’s Oldest Person at 116 Has Died

8 hours ago

How Congress Will Certify Trump’s Electoral College Victory on Jan. 6

8 hours ago

Hillary Clinton, George Soros and Denzel Washington Will Receive the Highest US Civilian Honor

8 hours ago

Congress Notified of Planned $8 Billion Weapons Sale to Israel

8 hours ago

Is Your Car Spying on You? What It Means That Tesla Shared Data in Las Vegas Explosion

NEW YORK — Your car is spying on you. That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of one of its Cyb...

44 minutes ago

44 minutes ago

Is Your Car Spying on You? What It Means That Tesla Shared Data in Las Vegas Explosion

1 hour ago

Can California Keep ICE Away from Schools? Lawmakers Want to Try as Crackdowns Loom

Elon Musk and X
2 hours ago

Elon Musk Announces Algorithm Change to Reduce Negativity on X

4 hours ago

Indie Filmmaker Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza’s Husband, Found Dead at Los Angeles Residence

4 hours ago

Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza Kill at Least 21, Hospital Workers Say

7 hours ago

Newsom Executive Order Targets Ultra-Processed Foods, Synthetic Dyes

7 hours ago

Net Neutrality Rules Struck Down by Appeals Court

Photo of Chinese flag
7 hours ago

Taiwan Says China Is Redoubling Efforts to Undermine Democracy With Disinformation

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend