Ágnes Keleti, legendary gymnast and Olympic champion, dies aged 103
A pioneering gymnast, Holocaust survivor, and symbol of resilience, Ágnes Keleti leaves a lasting legacy.
Artistic Gymnastics
The new year begins with the sad news that Ágnes Keleti, the oldest living Olympic medal winner, has died at the age of 103.
The Hungarian 10-time Olympic medallist and Holocaust survivor, died on Thursday 2 January 2025, having been admitted to hospital in a critical condition with pneumonia on Christmas Day.
The former artistic gymnast lived a full life, surviving the horrors of the Holocaust yet always retaining hope of achieving her Olympic dream.
IOC President Thomas Bach commented: “Ágnes Keleti was the oldest living Olympic Champion and passed away only a week before her 104th birthday. She will be remembered forever for her inspirational story. Ágnes Keleti has demonstrated the power of strong determination and courage to overcome tragedy when she, born to a Jewish family, survived the Holocaust and went on to win ten Olympic medals after World War II, five of them Gold. This is truly awe-inspiring. Our thoughts are with her family and her friends.”
Five time Olympic champion gymnast Agnes Keleti of Hungary, then the oldest living Olympic champion in the world, (aged 100 years), takes part in a documentary shooting with the Olympic Channel.
Olympic dream curtailed
A national champion in 1937 aged 16, Keleti then missed two Olympic Games following the outbreak of World War II.
Keleti, who had Jewish ancestry, went into hiding, assuming the false identity of a Christian maid. Her mother and sister also survived, but her father and other relatives were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
A ligament injury dashed Keleti's hopes of competing at London 1948, so it was at the Helsinki 1952 Games that the 31-year-old made her debut, coming away with one gold medal, a silver, and two bronze.
Keleti won a further six Olympic medals at Melbourne 1956, four of which were gold, to become the most successful athlete of the Games.
Of all her ten medals, Keleti’s very first is the one she prizes most, she told Olympics.com in an interview ahead of Tokyo 2020.
“It’s my favourite one because the floor exercise is the place where I do what I want, and I can be myself.”
Ágnes Keleti on Simone Biles
Keleti also commented on the current crop of gymnasts, saying of Simone Biles ahead of the Games in Japan. “I hope for her that everything she has planned will get realised in this Olympics.”
That turned out not to be the case for the American, who pulled out of the competition during the team event for safety reasons, after suffering a case of the twisties.
A renewed focus on enjoying her sport saw a successful return at Paris 2024 for Biles, the gymnast considered the best of all time, collecting a further three golds and one silver in France for an Olympic medal collection that took her one past Keleti, on 11.
This would have pleased the centenarian, surely the epitome of the Olympic spirit, who shared with us her best advice for her fellow athletes: “Not to concentrate about the winning… but to do it out of love.”