Agnes Kelty, the oldest Olympic athlete and world champion in the world, celebrated her 102nd birthday yesterday (Monday) and Adam Juston, chairman of "Maccabi World Movement" in Hungary, came to congratulate her.
Recently, an exciting documentary film was produced about Kelty's work and life, which was screened at the film festival in Hungary and was a great success.
"Whenever I visit Aggie and remind her of Maccabi and the Maccabiah, she is happy and excited every time."
Jeston said: "Maccabi Hungary sees a great mission in presenting the greatness of Agnes Kelti and other inspiring Jewish athletes from Hungary, and they do this by producing an exhibition that travels around the world, presenting the glorious legacy and special life story of the best Jewish athlete of all time."
Kelty was born on January 9, 1921. She is a former Hungarian-Israeli gymnast, an Olympic champion with ten medals, including five gold medals - one in the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952, when she was 31 years old and four in Melbourne in 1956, in addition to which she has three silver medals and two more bronze medals.
She started practicing gymnastics at the age of four at a Jewish sports club and at the age of 16 was the Hungarian champion.
During the German occupation in 1944, she hid using forged documents as a maid in the village.
Her father, uncles and their families were sent to Auschwitz where they perished, her mother and sister were saved.
After the war Kelti resumed her training.
During the Melbourne Olympics, the Hungarian uprising took place and Agnes Kelti, like many Hungarian athletes, stayed in Australia and received political asylum.
In 1957, when she was 36 years old, Kelty came to Israel, for the Fifth Maccabiah Games, and decided to stay in Israel: "I was invited to the Fifth Maccabiah and here I tasted freedom," she says.
After her participation in the competition, she worked at Wingate College and served as the coach of the Israeli gymnastics team.
The World Jewish Sports Museum in Raz presents the inspiring story of Agnes Kelti alongside unique and rare items she donated to the museum, including a trophy she received in the 5th Maccabiah.
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