She died on Thursday at a hospital in Budapest, as confirmed by her press representative, Tamas Roth, following a report from the local sports publication Nemzeti Sport. Keleti had been hospitalized due to pneumonia the previous week.
Her son, Rafael Biro-Keleti, expressed hope for her recovery, stating, “We pray for her, she has a great vitality,” and mentioned the family's desire to celebrate her 104th birthday together on January 9th.
Keleti's remarkable life, marked by her survival of the Holocaust and her achievements in gymnastics, resembles a compelling narrative worthy of a Hollywood film, showcasing her indomitable spirit in the face of challenges.
As Hungary's most decorated gymnast, she secured ten Olympic medals, all earned after the age of 30, competing against much younger athletes. This includes five gold medals won in Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956).
Her drive to participate in sports stemmed not from a pursuit of fame, but from a desire to travel beyond the Iron Curtain of communist Hungary. “I was competing not because I liked it but I did it because I wanted to see the world,” she shared with AFP in 2016.
Born on January 9, 1921, in Budapest as Agnes Klein, she later adopted the surname Keleti to reflect her Hungarian heritage.
She was called up to the national team in 1939 and claimed her first Hungarian title the following year. However, in 1940, she was prohibited from participating in sports due to her Jewish heritage.
Following the Nazi occupation of Hungary in March 1944, she evaded deportation to a concentration camp by acquiring false documents in exchange for her possessions, assuming the identity of a young Christian woman.
While in hiding in the countryside, she worked as a maid but continued to train secretly along the banks of the Danube River whenever she had the opportunity. Tragically, her father and several family members perished in Auschwitz, while her mother and sister were saved through the efforts of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
Many Hungarian athletes, including Keleti, chose not to return to their homeland after the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, which took place shortly after Hungary's unsuccessful anti-Soviet uprising.
The following year, she relocated to Israel, where she met and married Robert Biro, a Hungarian sports teacher, in 1959, and they had two children together. After retiring from competitive sports, she became a physical education teacher and served as a coach for the Israeli national team.
It wasn't until 1983 that she was able to visit her native Hungary, which was then under communist rule, for the World Gymnastics Championships. In 2015, she returned to her home country permanently.
“It was worth doing something well in life, considering the attention I have received, I get the shivers when I see all the articles written about me,” she told AFP in 2020, weeks before her 100th birthday.