Agnes Keleti, who escaped Nazi persecution to become the most decorated Jewish female Olympian in history, died Thursday, days short of her 104th birthday.
A gymnastics prodigy in pre-war Hungary, Keleti won her first national championship at 16. Her Olympic dreams were initially shattered when she was dropped from Hungary's 1940 team for being Jewish. She survived the Holocaust using false papers while her father and several family members perished at Auschwitz.
Defying convention, Keleti began her Olympic career at 31 - an age when most gymnasts had long retired. She went on to win 10 Olympic medals for Hungary, including five golds. At the 1956 Melbourne Games, she claimed six medals at age 35, revolutionizing the sport with routines that merged gymnastics with ballet.
After visiting Israel for the 1957 Maccabiah Games, Keleti immigrated during the Hungarian Revolution. She coached Israel's national gymnastics team and taught at the Wingate Institute for several decades. In 2017, she received the Israel Prize for her contributions to sports.
Her autobiography "I Am Agnes" chronicled her extraordinary journey from Holocaust survival to Olympic glory, marking her as a symbol of resilience in both athletic achievement and human survival.
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