The life and achievements of Agnes Keleti serve as a huge inspiration to all mankind, especially to those who are senior citizens and feel dejected that their best days are over. Many people belonging to the older age group go into depression over the fact that their glory no longer exists. For them Keleti’s life is an eye opener.
But who is Agnes Keleti and what is special about her? She is a Hungarian citizen who is now 102 years old. She is the oldest living Olympic champion. In the 1950s she won ten medals in gymnastics events in two Olympic Games. Ten medals being won by a single athlete is a tremendous feat. But this is not the only reason why she has inspired several generations of people close to her.
Father and uncles put to death
It is her attitude to life and her optimism in the face of immense adversity that has made her a great person. During the Second World War her father and uncles were put to death by the Nazis. She, her mother and sister ran away and hid in the forests without food and shelter. For many days their plight was the same as that of the animals which lived in the woods.
Far away they could hear gunfire and explosions. Every day more people were being executed. Many villages were obliterated with bombs and bullets. It was a daily nightmare.
Yet she overcame all the emotional and physical trauma to become an Olympic champion and is still alive having crossed the 100 years mark two years ago. This is the story of her extraordinary life.
Story of her life
Agnes Keleti was considered a top prospect for the Hungarian team before the 1940 Olympics. But the Games did not take place because the Second World War began in 1939.
The Nazi troops overran Europe and her family suffered numerous hardships. After her father and uncles were tortured to death in concentration camps, Keleti escaped with her mother and sister and they lived in the forests. Later they managed to contact friends and made fake passports to change their nationality. Thereafter, Agnes went to work as a maid servant in a village.
Roped in for a disgusting task
In the winter of 1944–45, during the Siege of Budapest by Soviet forces Agnes was among those workers who were roped in for a disgusting task. Every morning they had to collect dead bodies of those killed in the fighting and dump them into a mass grave.
After the war ended in 1945 Agnes went back to practice as a gymnast. She could not take part in the 1948 Olympics because she was injured. But she competed at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and earned four medals. At the 1956 Olympics, Agnes won six medals and became the most successful athlete at the games. But the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 again stopped her sports career.
In 1959 she married a physical education instructor Robert Biro. The couple had two sons Daniel and Rafael Biro.
Training children at age 100
In January 2021 she became 100 years old. Even at that age she was regularly attending the gymnasium where she was training little children. When reporters met her to ask what is the secret of her longevity and fitness, she said that she always looks at the future, never at the past. “The past? That has gone forever. But there is a golden future. Let us talk about the future. That’s what should be beautiful,” she said.
Present is more important than past
She always has a cheerful smile on her face and a loud laugh if anything strikes her as funny. She believes that each second of her present life is more important than whatever befell her in the past. She is always ready with advice and help if anyone approaches her.
Two years ago, in an interview to France 24 she said: “I do not like to talk about myself or see myself in the mirror. In my mind I am still young and fit. As long as my mind believes it, my body will comply with my beliefs,” she said with a smile.
Whenever we ourselves are bogged down with worries and feel that life has not been fair to us, we must remember this woman who has overcome so many hurdles in her life and is still going strong at the age of 102. She is facing the world with the smile of a champion still on her face.
| Posted by Mansoor Hameed | 
