Have a look at the cause of death, bio, age and husband of Agnes Keleti
At the age of 103, Agnes Keleti, the oldest Olympic champion in history and a Holocaust survivor, passed away.
According to her press representative Tamas Roth, who confirmed a report from the local sports daily Nemzeti Sport, Agnes Keleti died on Thursday at the hospital in Budapest.
“We pray for her, she has a great vitality” her son, Rafael Biro-Keleti told local press at the time, saying they would like to celebrate her 104th birthday on January 9th together as a family.
World’s oldest Olympic Games medal winner gymnast Agnes Keleti cause of death, biography, age, birthday, husband, children, religion, nationality and medals list
Ágnes Keleti was transported from her home in Budapest to the Honvéd Hospital in Budapest on Christmas Day, suffering from heart failure and breathing difficulties and the 103-year-old Holocaust survivor and Olympic champion, an Israeli and Hungarian citizen, was already in critical condition.
La gymnaste hongroise Agnes Keleti, la plus ancienne championne olympique au monde, est morte ce jeudi à l'âge de 103 ans. pic.twitter.com/SfLPV3Knrc
— TV5MONDE Info (@TV5MONDEINFO) January 2, 2025
Budapest, Hungary is where Agnes Klein who was a Jew (later Keleti) was born on 9 January 1921. At the age of four, she started gymnastics training, and by the time she was sixteen, she had won the Hungarian gymnastics championship.
In order to avoid being sent to a death camp during the Nazi German conquest of Hungary in March 1944, she obtained fictitious documentation in exchange for all of her possessions and pretended to be a young Christian woman.
She worked as a maid while hiding in the countryside, but during her free time, she continued her covert training on the banks of the Danube River.
Her mother and sister were saved from Auschwitz, but her father and numerous of her relatives perished there.
Weeks after Hungary’s failed anti-Soviet revolt, Keleti, like many other Hungarian athletes, did not return home from the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
She moved to Israel the next year, where she met and married Robert Biro, a Hungarian sports instructor, in 1959. The two of them had two kids together.
Born: 9 January 1921, Budapest, Hungary
Died: 2 January 2025 (age 103 years)
Spouse: Róbert Bíró (m. 1959), István Sárkány (m. 1944–1950)
Children: Rafael Bíró, Dániel Bíró
Parents: Ferenc Klein, Róza Gyárfás
Her career was interrupted by World War II and the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics and forced off her gymnastics team in 1941 because of her Jewish ancestry, Keleti went into hiding in the Hungarian countryside, where she survived the Holocaust by assuming a false identity and working as a maid.
Condolences: Ágnes Keleti
At 103 years old, Ágnes Keleti was the world’s oldest living Olympic gold medalist. According to the Olympics, Keleti is considered the greatest gymnast from Hungary. She was a world champion, Holocaust survivor, and a five-time Olympic gold medalist.… pic.twitter.com/xlC3V1MLrk— Humans of Judaism (@HumansOfJudaism) January 2, 2025
Agnes Keleti career
Agnes Keleti’s life narrative, which includes her Olympic success and Holocaust survival, reads like a compelling screenplay for a Hollywood movie, with her fierce spirit persevering through hardship.
Keleti was set to compete at the 1948 London Olympics, but a last-minute ankle injury dashed her hopes and four years later, she made her Olympic debut at the 1952 Helsinki Games at the age of 31, winning a gold medal in the floor exercise as well as a silver and two bronzes. In 1956, she became the most successful athlete at the Melbourne Olympics, winning four gold and two silver medals but while she was becoming the oldest gold medalist in gymnastics history at age 35 in Melbourne, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary following an unsuccessful anti-Soviet uprising. Keleti remained in Australia and sought political asylum. She then immigrated to Israel the following year and worked as a trainer and coached the Israeli Olympic gymnastics team.
She raked in medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, winning the Olympic gold medal with her free routine (the predecessor of today’s floor exercise), as well as one silver and two bronze medals.
She was the most successful gymnast in Hungary, winning 10 Olympic medals, including five gold in Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956), all after competing against much younger opponents and reaching the age of thirty.
Agnes Keleti participated in athletics to travel outside of the Iron Curtain from communist-ruled Hungary, not to gather fame.
“The queen of gymnastics” was called up to the national team in 1939 and won her first Hungarian title the following year. However, because of her Jewish heritage, she was later prohibited from participating in any sports in 1940.
She coached the Israeli national team and taught physical education after retiring from competition.
Only in 1983, when communist Hungary was still in power, was she permitted to go back home to compete in the World Gymnastics Championships. In 2015, she returned to her own country.