Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti passed away on Thursday, 2 January at the age of 103. She was just a week away from celebrating her 104th birthday on 9 January. Sadly, instead of her birthday celebrations, her funeral will be held on that date.

Keleti won her first Olympic gold medal in the floor exercise event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. She went on to win four more golds four years later, in 1956 in Melbourne, and she also has an additional three silvers and two bronzes in her Olympic medal collection. She is currently ranked fourth on the all-time Olympic medal table for female gymnasts, behind Larisa Latynina, Věra Čáslavská, and Simone Biles. She is the most decorated Hungarian female athlete in Olympic history.

Keleti also held the distinction of being the oldest living Olympic champion. In 2004, she was awarded the Athlete of the Nation honour by the Hungarian government.

Born as Ágnes Klein on 9 January 1921, she was brought up in a Jewish family and had to suffer through the horrors of the Holocaust as a young woman. She avoided being taken to an internment camp by marrying a Christian man named István Sárkány, a fellow gymnast, and purchasing the paperwork of a Christian woman. However, her mother and some of her other relatives were taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

President Tamás Sulyok of Hungary has also commented on the legendary athlete’s passing. ‘The Champion is gone. I say goodbye to Ágnes Keleti on behalf of the whole nation, and I share the grief of the family and everyone involved in her sport. May God rest her soul in peace!,’ he said, as quoted by the Hungarian sports daily Nemzeti Sport.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has shared a social media post commemorating the recently deceased Keleti with these words: ‘Thank you for everything! God be with you!’

President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach has given a brief interview to Nemzeti Sport. In it, he said: ‘Her legacy goes beyond her era, she will be remembered forever. I am certain that people will remember her for more than just her Olympic medals. Her personality has also made a lasting impact on so many people.’

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