Agnes Keleti, world’s oldest Olympic champion and Holocaust survivor, dies aged 103

They were among 550,000 Hungarian Jews killed at Auschwitz and other camps.

Keleti remained in Australia post-Olympics after the Soviet Union invaded Hungary during the Games, joining 44 other athletes from the Hungarian delegation in seeking political asylum.

She moved back to Hungary in 2015.

‘Agnes Keleti, a five-time Olympic champion gymnast, the Athlete of the Nation, Hungary’s female athlete with the most Olympic medals, and the oldest five-ring gold medalist in the world, passed away at the age of 103 on Thursday morning,’ a Hungarian Olympic Committee statement read.

‘We pray for her, she has a great vitality’ her son, Rafael Biro-Keleti told Hungarian media at the time.

Agnes Keleti, the world’s oldest Olympic champion, has died at the age of 103 it has been announced. 

Keleti became the oldest gymnastics gold medallist four years later in Melbourne.

She made her first Olympics at the age of 31 due to the Second World War delaying her debut

Her Olympic debut eventually came in 1952 in Helsinki at the age of 31, where she claimed one gold, a silver and two bronze medals.

On September 8, 2023, Keleti surpassed water polo player Sandor Tarics as the oldest ever Olympic champion at 102 years and 241 days.

Keleti was inducted into the International Gymnastics Federation Hall of Fame in 2002.

She joined the VAC Sports Club, the only Jewish club in Budapest, and went on to claim the national title as a 16-year-old.

She claimed the floor title in the Finnish capital, before winning the uneven bars, balance beam, floor and team event four years later.

Her Olympic debut was delayed due to the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Games due to the Second World War. 

Keleti survived the Holocaust and became one of the most decorated Jewish athletes in history

Keleti’s father and other relatives, however, died at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Keleti was due to celebrate her 104th birthday on January 9.

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