BUDAPEST, Hungary — For most Filipinos today, the shining star in the world of gymnastics is no other than our Paris Olympic Games gold medalist Carlos Edriel Yulo. But before the Malate, Manila-born gymnast grabbed the world's attention on the International stage, there was Hungarian-Israeli Agnes Keleti who won multiple gold medals and top honors in the Olympiad some seven decades ago.

The truth, however, is only a few Filipinos are familiar with the artistic gymnast from Budapest—the five-time Olympic champion won her first Olympic gold at age 31 in Heksinki, then reached her peak four years later, winning multiple golds in the Melbourne Summer Games to become the oldest female to win in the sport.
Keleti was the world’s oldest living Olympic gold medalist and a survivor of the persecution of Jews in World War II, and with honors from the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC), she passed away at the age of 103 in her modest home on Thursday, January 2, 2025.

Born as Agnes Klein on January 9, 1921, Keleti joined the National Gymnastics Association in 1938 and won her first Hungarian championship in 1940, only to be banned from all sports activities that year because of her Jewish origin.

According to the International Olympic Committee, “Agnes Keleti is the greatest gymnast produced by Hungary, but one whose life and career were intertwined with the politics of her country and her religion.”
Keleti holds more Olympic medals than any other individual with Israeli citizenship, and more Olympic medals than any other Jew, except Mark Spitz. While representing Hungary at the Summer Olympics, she won 10 Olympic medals including five gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals, and is considered to be one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time.

The HOC said Keleti escaped deportation to Nazi death camps, where hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were killed, by hiding in a village south of Budapest with false papers. Her father and several relatives died in the Auschwitz death camp.

After winning in two Olympians, she immigrated to Israel, where she worked as a gymnastics coach, eventually returning to her native Hungary in 2015 at the age of 94. In 2017, she was awarded the Israel Prize in sports.