The great Agnes Keleti celebrates her 100th birthday

Born on 9 January 2021 in the Hungarian capital Budapest, Agnes Keleti was a promising gymnast and cello player until her world changed forever: the German invasion of Hungary forced her to go into hiding whilst taking on the identity of a catholic girl her age thus surviving the Holocaust. Many of her relatives perished. Only her mother and sister survived, with the help of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. After the second World War, Keleti focused on gymnastics again. Injury kept her out of the London Olympics in 1948, so she made her Olympic debut in 1952 in Helsinki at the age of 31 where she earned 4 medals: gold on floor, silver with the team and bronze in the team portable apparatus event and the uneven bars. In 1954 she won the world title on uneven bars. At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Keleti battled with rising Soviet star Larisa Latynina, earning 4 golds (bars, beam , floor, portable apparatus team event) and silver with the team and in the all-around. Due to the Soviet invasion of Hungary, the atmosphere in balmy Melbourne was icy. Keleti was granted political asylum in Australia where she was reunited with her mother and sister. 9 months later she emigrated to Israel, where she married and had 2 sons. After retiring from competition, Keleti turned to coaching gymnastics at the reputed Wingate Institute of Sports in Netanya. She also worked a physical education instructor at the Tel Aviv University.

Tomorrow, the world’s oldest living Olympic Champion, Hungary’s most successful gymnast and the most decorated Jewish athlete in history turns 100!

From this year on, the Israeli Championships in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics will be named in honour of the great Agnes Keleti.