New Delhi: The world’s oldest living Olympic gold medallist Agnes Keleti has died at the age of 103. The Hungarian gymnast, who won her first gold medal aged 31 at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, was a Holocaust survivor.
After winning her first gold in Helinski, Keleti won four more in Melbourne in 1956 and became the oldest female gymnast to win gold.
Keleti breathed her last on Thursday at Budapest Military Hospital, where she was being treated for heart failure and breathing difficulties, according to the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC). She would have turned 104 on 9 January 2025.
FILE – Five time Olympic champion gymnast Agnes Keleti of Hungary, currently the oldest living Olympic champion in the world, (aged 100 years), takes part in a documentary shooting with the Olympic Channel, in the gym of the University of Physical Education and Sports Science on June 14, 2021 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Istvan Derencsenyi/Getty Images)
The second most successful Jewish athlete
The five-time Olympic gold medallist, who won a total of 10 Olympic medals, is the second most successful Hungarian athlete of all time. Her 10 Olympic medals included five gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals. Keleti, who is regarded as one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time, has won more Olympic medals than any other athlete with Israeli citizenship, and more medals than any other Jew, barring Mark Spitz.
Born in Budapest in 1921, she rose to fame by winning the Hungarian championship in 1940 but was banned from all sports activities because of her Jewish origin later that year.
As per the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC), Keleti escaped deportation to Nazi death camps by hiding in a village near Budapest with false papers. Her father and relatives died in the infamous Auschwitz death camp.
A year after scripting history at the Melbourne Games, Keleti moved to Israel, married and gave birth to two children. She coached gymnastics in Israel and continued her love affair with the sport even after her playing days.
Agnes Keleti, who is regarded as one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time, has won more Olympic medals than any other athlete with Israeli citizenship. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
