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ÁGNES KELETI
Ágnes Keleti (born 1921 in Budapest, Hungary) was an artistic gymnast.
She began gymnastics at age 4, and, at 16 she won the first of her 10 Hungarian National titles.
War canceled the 1940 Summer Olympics, and postponed gymnastics training for her. She survived the Holocaust by posing as
a Christian maid in a village in the Hungarian countryside. Her father died in Auschwitz, and her mother and sister went into hiding,
saved by Raoul Wallenberg.
After the war, Keleti qualified for three Games — 1948, when an injury caused her to miss the competition; 1952, when she was already
31 years old; and 1956.
During the 16th Olympic Games in Melbourne (November/December 1956), the Soviet Union invaded Hungary, and she had decided to
stay permanently in Australia. She received political asylum there, along with 44 other Hungarian athletes — refugees after the
1956 Hungarian Revolution.
She later emigrated to Israel, getting her mother and sister out of Hungary. In Israel she became a physical education instructor.
In 2002, Keleti was inducted into the International
Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
For more information, visit her
profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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