At age 16 Keleti won her first national title in Hungary and was a favorite to make the country’s 1940 Olympic team. At the time she was a member of the VAC Sports Club, the only Jewish club of it’s kind in Budapest, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). But When Hungary entered the war in support of Germany and the Axis powers, Agnes and her family fled to the countryside where they assumed false identities in order to survive.

The Keleti family eventually received refuge from Swedish architect and businessman Raoul Wallenberg at the “Swedish House,” where they remained until the end of the war. Unfortunately, her father and her uncles were caught by the Nazis and were among the 550,000 Hungarian Jews who were killed at Nazi concentration camps.

When the war was over Agnes was finally able to begin competing in gymnastics again and won the Central European Gymnastics Championship in 1947. She was now 26 years old and already past the age of most competitive gymnastics athletes. Fast forward five years to 1952 when she competed and medaled in the Olympic Games in Helsinki, and again four years later in Melbourne.

In 2002, she was inducted into the International Olympics Hall Of Fame. During a clebration for her 100th birthday, Ms. Keleti spoke with the AP about living for an entire century:

“These 100 years felt to me like 60. I love life. Health is the essence. Without it, there is nothing. I live well, and it’s great that I’m still healthy. And I love life.”