Agnes Keleti, a five-time Olympic winner, the oldest living Olympic gold medalist, and a survivor of the World War II persecution of Jews, passed away on Thursday at the age of 103, according to the Hungarian Olympic Committee.
Keleti, who was born Agnes Klein in Budapest on January 9, 1921, joined the National Gymnastics Association in 1938 and won her first Hungarian title in 1940. However, due to her Jewish heritage, she was prohibited from participating in any sports that year.
The International Olympic Committee stated in a profile on its website that Agnes Keleti is the best gymnast Hungary has ever produced, but that her life and career were entwined with her religion and the politics of her nation.
According to the HOC, Keleti used fictitious documents to hide in a village south of Budapest and avoid being deported to Nazi murder camps, where hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews perished. In the Auschwitz death camp, her father and a number of family members perished.
According to the HOC, she earned her first gold medal in the Helsinki Games in 1952 at the age of 31, long after the majority of gymnasts had retired.
According to the HOC, Keleti’s career peaked in 1956 in Melbourne, where she became the oldest female gymnast to win gold and took home four gold medals. Keleti moved to Israel a year later, got married, and had two kids there.
According to the HOC, Keleti is the second most successful Hungarian athlete of all time with 10 Olympic medals, including five golds. She has also won numerous state honors in Hungary.
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