Ágnes Keleti Facts for Kids

The native form of this personal name is Keleti Ágnes. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Quick facts for kids

Ágnes Keleti

Keleti in 2021

Personal information

Alternative name(s)

Ágnes Klein

Nickname(s)

Aggi

Country represented

Hungary

Born

9 January 1921
Budapest, Hungary

Died

2 January 2025 (aged 103)
Budapest, Hungary

Discipline

Women's artistic gymnastics

Years on national team

1937–1940, 1946–1958 (HUN)

Club

Nemzeti TE
Bp. Postás
TF Haladás
Újpesti TE

Retired

1958

Medal record


Women's gymnastics
Olympic Games
Gold	1952 Helsinki	Floor exercise
Gold	1956 Melbourne	Uneven bars
Gold	1956 Melbourne	Balance beam
Gold	1956 Melbourne	Floor exercise
Gold	1956 Melbourne	Team, portable
Silver	1952 Helsinki	Team
Silver	1956 Melbourne	All-around
Silver	1956 Melbourne	Team
Bronze	1952 Helsinki	Uneven bars
Bronze	1952 Helsinki	Team, portable
World Championships
Gold	1954 Rome	Uneven bars
Silver	1954 Rome	Team
Bronze	1954 Rome	Balance beam

Spouse(s)

István Sárkány

(m. 1944; div. 1950)

Róbert Bíró

(m. 1959)

Children

Ágnes Keleti (born Klein; 9 January 1921 – 2 January 2025) was a famous gymnast and coach. She was from Hungary and later Israel. Keleti won many medals at the Summer Olympics.

She was the oldest living Olympic champion and medalist. Keleti celebrated her 100th birthday on January 9, 2021. While competing for Hungary, she won 10 Olympic medals. These included five gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. She is known as one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes ever. Keleti earned more Olympic medals than any other person with Israeli citizenship. She also won more Olympic medals than any other Jewish athlete, except Mark Spitz. She was the most successful athlete at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

In 1957, Keleti moved to Israel. There, she worked as a gymnastics coach. She returned to her home country, Hungary, in 2015 when she was 94 years old. In 2017, she received the Israel Prize for her achievements in sports.

Early Life and Career
Return to Gymnastics and Olympic Success
Life in Israel and Later Years
Awards and Honours
Competitive Results
See also

Early Life and Career

Ágnes Klein was born in Budapest, Hungary. She started training in gymnastics when she was just 4 years old. By the age of 16, she was already the Hungarian National Champion in gymnastics. During her career, from 1937 to 1956, she won the Hungarian Championships ten times. She later changed her last name to Keleti to make it sound more Hungarian.

Keleti was expected to join the Hungarian team for the 1940 Olympics. However, World War II caused both the 1940 and 1944 Games to be cancelled. In 1941, she was removed from her gymnastics club because she was Jewish. To stay safe during the war, she used false identity papers. She also worked as a maid in a small Hungarian village. Her mother and sister were also able to hide and survive. Sadly, her father and other family members died during the Holocaust. During the Siege of Budapest in 1944–45, Keleti helped collect bodies for burial.

Return to Gymnastics and Olympic Success

After the war, Keleti started training again. She also played the cello professionally. In 1946, she won her first Hungarian championship. The next year, in 1947, she won the Central European gymnastics title. She qualified for the 1948 Summer Olympics, but could not compete. This was because she tore a ligament in her ankle. At the World University Games in 1949, she won four gold medals, one silver, and one bronze.

Keleti continued her training. She competed in the Olympics for the first time at age 31. This was at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. She won four medals there. She earned a gold medal in the floor exercise. She also won a silver medal in the team competition. She took home two bronze medals, one in the team portable apparatus event and one in the uneven bars.

Keleti then competed at the 1954 World Championships. There, she won on the uneven bars, becoming a world champion. At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Keleti won six medals. She earned gold medals in three individual events: floor, bars, and balance beam. She also placed second in the all-around competition. She was the most successful athlete at these Games. The Hungarian team won first place in the portable apparatus event. They also placed second in the team competition. At 35 years old, Keleti became the oldest female gymnast to win a gold medal.

During the 1956 Olympics, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary. Because of this, Keleti and 44 other Hungarian athletes decided to stay in Australia. They received political asylum there. She then became a coach for Australian gymnasts.

Life in Israel and Later Years

Keleti moved to Israel in 1957. She competed in the 1957 Maccabiah Games. She was also able to bring her mother and sister to Israel. In 1959, she married Robert Biro, a physical education teacher. They had two sons, Daniel and Rafael. After she stopped competing, Keleti worked as a physical education instructor. She taught at Tel Aviv University and for 34 years at the Wingate Institute for Sports in Netanya.

Ágnes Keleti training a student at the Wingate Institute in Israel on 12 May 1960

Keleti also coached Israel's national gymnastics team. She continued this work into the 1990s. From 1990 onwards, she spent more time in Hungary. She finally settled back in her hometown of Budapest in 2015.

Keleti became the oldest Hungarian Olympic champion after Sándor Tarics passed away on May 21, 2016. She became the oldest living Olympic champion when Lydia Wideman passed away on April 13, 2019. She celebrated her 100th birthday in January 2021. On August 7, 2023, she became the longest-lived Olympic champion ever. She broke the record previously held by Tarics.

Ágnes Keleti passed away in Budapest on January 2, 2025. This was just a week before her 104th birthday. She had been in the hospital with pneumonia.