Her name is Agnes Keleti. He is 102 years old and can still do some exercises. She has ten medals from the Olympic Games and three from the World Championships. She was not sent to Auschwitz thanks to forged documents she obtained, during the siege of Budapest she helped with the funeral of her murdered compatriots to avoid communism, she sought political asylum in Israel, she played the cello professionally and has planets named after her. . What is her secret? “I like it if I live. I live well. Age does not matter, only a good life is important, ”she says in her interviews.

Agnes Keleti was born into a Jewish family on January 9, 1921 in Budapest. As a child, he was introduced to the world of instrumental gymnastics. Even before the age of 16, she had already achieved success in Hungarian gymnastics, and at the age of 16 she became a champion. Her coaches considered her the favorite for the distinction at the 1940 Olympics, but … the turmoil of World War II did not confirm the prediction.

The signing of the Tripartite Treaty (11/20/1940) between Hungary and Germany and good relations between the two countries “sowed” terror in the Jewish families of the country. Keleti was expelled from the gymnastics club in 1941 for being Jewish.

Fight for survival against the Nazis

When the championship was in her blood, Agnes began her biggest battle. It was a struggle that lasted until the end of the war, and instead of a laurel wreath, the prize was her survival. The athlete managed to obtain documents that said that she was a Christian, worked as a maid in a German-loving family, and at a military factory. As an added measure of protection, and because she had heard that married women were not sent to labor camps, she married her good friend and musician Istvan Sarkani. They separated in 1944. Her father and other relatives were sent to the Auschwitz camp, and she never saw them alive again. During the siege of Budapest by Soviet and Romanian troops, Agnes went around the city every day and helped collect the bodies of her dead compatriots and place them in a mass grave. “I remember mother and daughter hugging, wearing pink nightgowns like wax dolls. We put them in a cart and took them to a mass grave. “This is the worst memory of my life,” she said in an interview.

With the end of the war, Keleti’s first step was to return to the gym. Despite the hardships and suffering, her body quickly recovered, and in 1947 she again became the best gymnast in her country. The road to the 1948 Olympics was open… But fate wanted to put it to another test. Two days before the Games, he was injured and did not take part. The national team of her country won the silver medal, which Agnes also wore around her neck instead of a replacement. In fact, this is her 11th Olympic medal, but when, as an active athlete, she wins ten in the next few years, then … a spare medal is not worth much.

As a student, in 1949 she will take part in world universities and win four golds, one silver and one bronze. Two years later, athletes will consider her great because she achieved distinction at the Helsinki Olympics. But they did not think that this woman emerged victorious in the fight against death. He left Helsinki with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Keleti returned to her natural habitat, and age was just… a number. He will collect three medals from the World Championships in Rome and the time will come for the Olympics in Melbourne.

Triumph in Melbourne and political asylum

In 1956, the Olympian was 35 years old. If at 31 she was considered old enough to stand out, at 35 people in the sport considered her… old. The six medals (4-2-0) she had worn around her neck since the Melbourne tournament belied them. “My favorite of all is gold in floor exercise. On earth, I can be myself and do whatever I want, ”she will say years later in an interview on the website of the International Olympic Committee.

In Australia, Agnes Keleti will have to make a big decision about her future. During the Games, the anti-communist revolution that broke out in her country was suppressed by the army of the Soviet Union. The athlete, who escaped Nazism and collected the corpses of her compatriots during the siege of Budapest, decided not to return to her homeland, so as not to find herself again in the struggle for survival. Together with 47 other members of the Hungarian delegation, they asked for political asylum.

In 1957, an Israeli diplomat invited her to take part in an international Jewish race. She moved to Israel and immediately realized that she could build her future there. “I did not want to be a Jew in Hungary. I wanted to be an Israeli in my country,” she says.

Until 1990, Agnes will work as a coach for the Israeli national team. In this country, he is considered a man who helped the sport rise to a new level. In 2015, she will move to her hometown of Budapest. “I think this move has given her years of life,” her son said. But she has a different philosophy. “Those 100 years felt like 60 years to me,” he will say on the day he cuts the 100-year-old cake.

When the Olympian is asked what is the secret of her longevity, she replies: “I love life. Health is the essence. Without it, nothing matters. Staying alive has value. Medals are meaningless.”