Ágnes Keleti, World’s Oldest Olympic Champion, Passes Away at 103

Ágnes Keleti, the oldest living Olympic champion, passed away at the age of 103 in a Budapest hospital. The news was confirmed on Thursday by her spokesperson, Tamás Róth.

The gymnast, who earned five Olympic gold medals, secured her first victory in Helsinki in 1952. She had been hospitalized last week due to pneumonia, just days before her 104th birthday, which would have been celebrated next Thursday.

Keleti is Hungary’s most successful gymnast, with a total of ten Olympic medals, including five golds: one from the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and four from the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. This extraordinary achievement came after she had surpassed the age of 30.

She was called up to the Hungarian national team in 1939 and won her first national title in 1940, earning her the nickname “The Queen of Gymnastics.”