Agnes Keleti, World’s Oldest Olympic Champion, Dies at 103

Growing up in a Jewish family in Budapest, Agnes Keleti was immersed in sports and the world of music. She took gymnastics lessons, swam and played the cello.

Then darkness descended.

Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, marking the start of World War II in Europe. The Nazis occupied Hungary in 1944 and deported hundreds of thousands of its Jews to death camps, among them Ms. Keleti’s father, Ferenc Klein, who died at Auschwitz.

Using papers she bought that identified her as a Christian girl, Ms. Keleti survived the war, working as a maid and a munitions worker. Her mother, Rosza, and her sister, Vera, also survived.

When the war ended, Ms. Keleti began rebuilding her life and turned once more to gymnastics.

Competing in her 30s against far younger athletes, she won a total of five gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki and the 1956 Games in Melbourne. She settled in Israel in 1957, played a major role in building its gymnastics programs and received its highest honor for a civilian, the Israel Prize, in 2017.

Spry enough to do leg splits into her 90s, she expressed pride in influencing young people to take up gymnastics and to embrace physical fitness.

“The past? Let’s talk about the future,” she told The Associated Press on the eve of her 99th birthday in January 2020. “That’s what should be beautiful.”