Ágnes Keleti, the Oldest Olympic Champion Ever, Celebrates 103rd Birthday

MTI-Hungary Today 2024.01.10.

Sport Secretary Dr. Ádám Schmidt and Ágnes Keleti

Zsolt Gyulay, President of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, Sándor Altorjai, Secretary General of the Hungarian Gymnastics Federation (MATSZ), and Krisztián Berki, Director of Sports of MATSZ personally welcomed Ágnes Keleti, the oldest Olympic champion ever, on the occasion of her 103rd birthday.

“Auntie Ági is well for her age, although her hearing has become a little worse recently. She was interested in the Hungarian Gymnastics Federation and Hungarian gymnasts. By the way, there was a sports program on television in the background while we were there. It was good to see that our five-time Olympic champion has changed practically nothing in the last three years…” – the MATSZ statement quoted Sándor Altorjai, who visited the five-time Olympic gold mentalist with Krisztián Berki on Tuesday morning.

According to the Hungarian Olympic Committee’s website, Zsolt Gyulay visited the living legend with a bouquet of flowers at her Budapest apartment on Monday afternoon and “wished her good health and happiness.”

During her career, Keleti has won a total of ten Olympic medals (five gold, three silver, two bronze), making her the female athlete with the most Olympic medals in Hungary.

The Athlete of the Nation is now ranked ahead of Sándor Tarics, the water polo player who died in 2016 at the age of 102 years and 241 days, on the list of the longest-lived Olympic champions.

Ágnes Keleti in 1949. Photo via Fortepan/Kovács Márton Ernő

Fact

Ágnes Keleti competed at the Olympics for the first time at the age of 31 at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. She earned four medals. At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Keleti won six medals including gold medals in three of the four individual event finals: floor, bars, and balance beam, and placed second in the all-around. She was the most successful athlete at these games. At the age of 35, Keleti became the oldest female gymnast ever to win gold. The Soviet Union invaded Hungary during the 1956 Olympics. Along with 44 other athletes from the Hungarian delegation, she decided to remain in Australia and received political asylum.

Keleti emigrated to Israel in 1957. Following her retirement from competition, Keleti worked as a physical education instructor at Tel Aviv University, and for 34 years at the Wingate Institute for Sports in Netanya. She also coached and worked with Israel’s national gymnastics team well into the 1990s. Since 2015, she has lived in Budapest.

Ágnes Keleti Becomes the Oldest Living Olympic Champion in the World

A Hungarian sports legend celebrates her 102nd birthday.Continue reading

Via MTI; Featured image via Facebook/Dr. Schmidt Ádám