Hungarian Olympic champion Ágnes Keleti, born in Budapest in 1921 to a Jewish family, started doing gymnastics at age four. She was a top pick for the 1940 Olympics, but World War II caused the games to be canceled, putting her dreams on hold.
Ágnes worked as a maid during the war, but afterwards she was determined to show the world her hard-earned gymnastics talent. An injury kept her from competing in the 1948 Olympics, but she persisted and finally entered the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, returning home with four medals. At age 35, she won four gold medals at Melbourne’s 1956 Olympics. Later Ágnes moved to Israel, where she coached generations of gymnasts, and she was recently awarded the Israel Prize, “The Nobel Prize of Israel”, in Sport and Physical Culture. We can all learn a lot from her – a message portrayed in the short Upworthy video honoring her inspirational life, and viewed more than three million times since its debut on March 14th; watch it below:
From World War II through the Soviet era to modern times, 96-year-old Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti continually inspires people worldwide with her determination, winning multiple gold medals in the Olympics along the way before becoming one of the top trainers of her sport. A touching new mini-movie posted by Upworthy last week encapsulates her extraordinary story with stirring footage from throughout her life, already garnering over 3 million views.
