Agnes Keleti, the iconic Hungarian gymnast has a super exciting life – she had to wait 12 years until her dream came true but she didn’t give up.
Agnes Keleti was born to a Jewish family in Budapest in 1921. She started doing gymnastics at the age of 4, and fell in love with the sport. She became one of the best – could even participate at the Olympics at 1940 but the games were cancelled due to World War II. Agnes didn’t forget her dreams but she had to fear for her life because of the war and the Nazi regime. So she lived under a Christian identity and worked as a maid.
In 1948, she wasn’t able to participate the Olympics due to an injury but she still didn’t give up her dreams. In 1952, she could be there in Helsinki and brought home four medals. In 1956, she was 35 years old. She competed at the Melbourne Olympics and brought home four gold medals. So she became the oldest gymnast to win gold medals. After that, she moved to Israel where she coached generations of gymnasts.
At the age of 96, she has just been awarded the Israel Prize in Sport and Physical Culture - the Nobel Prize of Israel. We all can be very proud of her and can learn a lot from her. ;)
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awnPMLrH_60