Irish Examiner view: A century of inspiring resilience

Though Ireland remembers Ronnie Delaney's achievement with pride, he may remember another from those games worthy of celebration. 

Ronnie Delaney winning gold at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. Picture: Allsport/Inpho

It’s almost 65 years since Ronnie Delaney won gold at the Melbourne Olympics. Though Ireland remembers his achievement with pride, he may remember another from those games worthy of celebration. 

Agnes Keleti, the world’s oldest Olympic champion, celebrated her 100th birthday in Budapest with gusto last Saturday. She competed in her first Olympics at Helsinki aged 31, before going on to win six medals, four of them gold, in Melbourne four years later.

Keleti’s story is extraordinary. Hoping to compete in the Tokyo Games in 1940, she was expelled from her club for being Jewish and forced into hiding. 

After the Melbourne Games, Keleti decided not to return to Hungary where the Soviet army was crushing the Hungarian Rising. 

She found asylum in Israel. Her father and uncles were among the 550,000 Hungarian Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Keleti’s mother and sister survived only because of the help of the courageous Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.

Amazingly, she is only the 10th oldest Olympian alive. 

Uruguayan sailor Félix Sienra, who competed in London in 1948, will turn 105 next week. There are also three athletes who competed in Berlin in 1936 still alive. 

The oldest, US swimmer Iris Cummins, turned 100 last month. An incredible athlete, she built a proud record during the Second World War when she flew 18 types of military aircraft. 

The stories of inspiring human resilience are all around, if only we care to look.