Gymnast Agi Keleti

Agi Keleti: Olympian of Survival and Triumph   

Agi Keleti’s life is a testament of resilience, survival, and triumph over adversity. Born Agnes Klein in Hungary in 1921 to a non-observant Jewish family, she grew up in a country with a thriving Jewish community. Before World War II, notwithstanding a history of repression toward Jews, Hungary was home to one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe, contributing significantly to the country’s cultural, intellectual, and economic life. In fact, Jews constituted 5% of Hungary’s overall population and 23% of Budapest’s population in the early 1900s. Agi became interested in gymnastics at age four and began training at the Jewish VAC Club of Budapest, dreaming of competing in the Olympics. She quickly became a top gymnast, winning her first Hungarian title in 1940 before being barred from competing due to her Jewish identity. 

Economic and political instability between 1919 and 1944 led the Hungarian government to align with fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. As such, antisemitism rose, and anti-Jewish laws implemented in the late 1930s increasingly marginalized Jewish Hungarians. Despite the discrimination, Jews lived in relative safety in Hungary during WWII until the Nazis occupied the country in 1944, when the situation rapidly deteriorated. Families were torn apart as over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to concentration camps in just a few months, marking one of the most devastating chapters of the Holocaust. 

Keleti’s family was among those directly affected by the horrors of Nazi persecution. Her father was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Her mother and sister, however, managed to survive thanks to the heroic efforts of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who issued protective passports and sheltered thousands of Hungarian Jews in safe houses. To survive World War II, she bought the papers of a Christian girl and worked as a furrier and as a maid for a Nazi-sympathizing family in a small Hungarian village. She also worked in an ammunition factory. During the battle for Budapest in the winter of 1944–1945, she did morning rounds to collect the bodies of those who had died the previous day and place them in a mass grave.   Because she had heard a rumor that married women were not taken to labor camps, she hastily married Istvan Sarkany, a gymnast of the 1930s who had participated in the 1936 Berlin Olympics; they later divorced.  

Despite the immense personal losses she suffered, Keleti did not allow the Holocaust to define the rest of her life. She had been an exceptional gymnast before the war, but her athletic career was abruptly halted by the conflict. Following the war, she resumed training and reestablished herself as Hungary’s top gymnast, still aspiring to participate in the Olympics. She qualified for the 1948 London Olympics, but an injury to her Achilles tendon prevented her from competing. At 27 years old, many thought her gymnastics career might be over, but Agi persevered and
made history  at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, winning her first gold medal, as well as a silver and two bronze ones, at age 31, well past the typical prime for elite gymnastics. Despite having finally achieved her Olympic dreams, she  did not stop. At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics four years later, then 35-year-old Keleti cemented her Olympic legacy, earning four gold and two silver medals, becoming the most decorated athlete of those games. 

While Keleti was in Melbourne, the Soviet Union crushed the Hungarian Revolution that had broken out. With the situation in Hungary unstable and dangerous, Keleti sought asylum in Australia where Her sister had emigrated seven years prior. However, Keleti only remained there temporarily before emigrating to Israel after attending the 1957 Maccabi Games where she dedicated herself to coaching and developing the country’s gymnastics program until the 1990s. Her impact on Israeli gymnastics was profound, as she helped raise the country’s athletic profile on the international stage, winning her the Israel Prize—one of the country’s highest honors—in 2017 for her contribution to sports.  

Keleti lived to be 103 years old, holding the distinction of being the oldest living Olympic champion for several years before her passing. At her death, her five gold medals in women’s gymnastics tied her for fourth place on the Olympic list. Her life is a testament to the perseverance of the human spirit. She overcame personal tragedy to achieve greatness in the face of hardship and in the process, inspired generations of athletes and others, leaving behind an enduring impact because of her courage and determination.