Bela Karolyi, a longtime gymnastics coach who transformed USA Gymnastics into a global contender at the Olympic level, died Friday at the age of 82. Karolyi’s passing was announced by USA Gymnastics.
After initially coaching in his native Romania, with pupils including Nadia Comaneci, the first Olympic gymnast to ever be awarded a perfect score, Karolyi and his wife Marta fled to the United States in 1981 after clashing with government officials in the Romanian Federation. Settling in Houston, Texas, he would become a member of five U.S. Olympic Team staffs as well as the personal coach of some of the most successful American gymnasts ever.
Gymnasts coached by Karolyi throughout the 1980s and 1990s included a host of USA Gymnastics Hall of Famers such as Dianne Durham, Julianna McNamara, Phoebe Mills, Dominique Moceanu, Betty Okino, Kristie Phillips, Kerri Strug, Mary Lou Retton and Kim Zmeskal. He would later become the U.S. Women’s National Team Coordinator from 1999 to 2001, and remained involved in the sport after his wife succeeded him in that position.
Although his results spoke for themselves, Karolyi’s methods as an especially demanding coach were not always looked kindly upon. Late in his life,…
