Jewish sports legend, Holocaust survivor Agnes Keleti passes away at 103
The most decorated Hungarian-Jewish gymnast passed away in Budapest • She won 10 medals in gymnastics at two different Olympics • In 1957 she moved to Israel and trained the national team
Agnes Keleti, a Holocaust survivor and the oldest Olympic medalist, passed away on Thursday at the age of 103. Keleti lived in Budapest, and according to Hungarian media, she was hospitalized this week in serious condition with pneumonia. "These 100 years felt like 60 to me," Keleti said in an interview for her 100th birthday, three years ago. "I live well, and I love life. It's great that I'm still healthy."
She won 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 family members in the Holocaust, and became one of the most successful Jewish female athletes in history. She became the oldest gold medalist in the history of gymnastics after winning in the 1956 Olympics. That year, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary to quell a revolt, and Keleti fled to Australia. A year later, she moved to Israel and coached the national gymnastics team until the 1990s.
Later in life, she returned to her birthplace of Hungary.