![]() Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) explained that while two youth Olympic champions could take the oath at the Hungarian team’s Olympic vows ceremony – namely swimmer Ajna Késely and sports shooter István Péni -, two older athletes were chosen for flag bearers, following the suggestion of the MOB athletes’ committee. She then immigrated to Israel the following year and worked as a trainer and coached the Israeli Olympic gymnastics team until the 1990s.Foil fencer Aida Mohamed, who is about to break a Hungarian record by appearing in her 7th Olympics, and six-time Olympic medalist swimmer László Cseh will carry the Hungarian flag at the opening ceremony of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.įor the first time in the history of the openings, every country will have a female and a male athlete carrying their national flag together. Keleti remained in Australia and sought political asylum. At the age of 35, while she was becoming the oldest gold medalist in gymnastics history in Melbourne, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary following an unsuccessful anti-Soviet uprising. Those travels would ultimately result in a nearly 60-year absence from her native Hungary. “I loved gymnastics because it was possible to travel for free,” she said. In an interview with The Associated Press last year, Keleti said the experiences she gained while traveling the world were more precious to her than her 10 Olympic medals. 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.ĭespite her achievements - with six medals she was the most successful athlete at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and she is recognized as one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time - the still-vivacious Keleti said she most values her health and the simple fact that she has lived. Resuming her career after the war, Keleti was set to compete at the 1948 London Olympics but a last-minute ankle injury dashed her hopes. Her mother and sister survived the war with the help of famed Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, but her father and other relatives perished at Auschwitz, among the more than half a million Hungarian Jews killed in Nazi death camps and by Hungarian Nazi collaborators. 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. Keleti, who was born Agnes Klein in 1921, had her illustrious career interrupted by World War II and the subsequent cancellation of the 19 Olympics. And in Hungarian: “That’s an exaggeration.” “‘The queen of gymnastics,’” she said, switching to English. Leafing through a copy of a new book about her life - “The Queen of Gymnastics: 100 Years of Agnes Keleti” - her trademark modesty was on full display. “These 100 years felt to me like 60,” she said at a celebration in Budapest on the eve of her birthday. The Holocaust survivor and winner of 10 Olympic medals in gymnastics - including five golds - celebrates her 100th birthday on Saturday in her native Budapest, punctuating a life of achievement, adventure, tragedy and perseverance which, she says, passed by in a flash. (AP Photo/Laszlo Balogh)īUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - For Agnes Keleti, the oldest living Olympic champion, the fondest memory of her remarkable 100 years is simply that she has lived through it all. Keleti had her illustrious career interrupted by World War II and the subsequent cancellation of the 19 Olympics. The oldest living Olympic champion turns 100 and says the fondest memory of her remarkable life is simply that she has lived through it all. ![]() Agnes Keleti, former Olympic gold medal winning gymnast, blows out the candles on her birthday cake in Budapest, Hungary Monday Jan.
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