The Gymnast Even The Holocaust Could Not Stop – Agnes Keleti

Ágnes Keleti turned 103 on January 9, 2024. She is the oldest living Olympian. Though you may not know her name, Ágnes Keleti has won more Olympic medals than any other Jewish woman. Her incredible story is inspiring and a lesson in resilience.

Ágnes Keleti  In Hungary

As a girl in Hungary, the talent of Ágnes Keleti was obvious to all. Her selection for the Hungarian National Gymnastics Team and all signs pointed toward a fabulous Olympic career. She was the Hungarian National Champion at 16 – and would win that title 10 times!

Surviving The Holocaust

Ágnes Keleti seemed a lock for stardom at the 1940 Olympics. However, the rise of Nazism led to her involuntary removal from the Hungarian National team. With World War II underway, the IOC canceled the 1940 Olympics. The great Holocaust rescuer Raoul Wallenberg saved Keleti’s mother and sister. Unfortunately,  her father and other family members perished in Auschwitz. Ágnes Keleti survived when she purchased false identity papers, went into hiding, worked as a maid in a rural area under an assumed name, and helped carry dead bodies to the crematorium. Despite the horrors of the war and the Holocaust and the threat of her false identity being discovered, Ágnes Keleti never gave up her dream of being an Olympic gymnast.

The 1944 Olympic games were so canceled because of the war. Amazingly, Ágnes Keleti survived her ordeal and began training for the 1948 Olympics. Unfortunately, a last-minute injury kept her from participating. Undeterred, she decided to prepare for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Ágnes Keleti At The Olympics

We think of gymnasts as being extremely young. Ágnes Keleti made her debut as an Olympic gymnast at the age of 31 years old! Against all odds, Ágnes Keleti won her first gold in gymnastics at the 52 Games. She also won a silver and two bronze medals!

At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the remarkable Holocaust survivor was 35 years old and put on one of the most extraordinary exhibitions of dominance in a sport in the history of the Olympic games. Ágnes Keleti, one for more gold medals and two more silvers! These wins brought her total to 10 Olympic medals.

Ágnes Keleti’s stunning success at the 1956 Games dominance is compared by many to the Olympic accomplishments of Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, and Simone Biles. Mark Spitz is the only Jewish athlete to exceed her total of 10!

With the invasion of Hungary by Russia, Ágnes Keleti eventually settled in Israel. They happily granted her citizenship. She retired from the competition but became the coach of the Israeli national team.

This picture shows her 99 working with young gymnasts! In 2015, she returned to live in Budapest, where she is revered as a national hero!