The famous and controversial Olympic gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi, who guided Nadia Comaneci to the sport’s first “perfect 10”, has died at the age of 82, USA Gymnastics announced this Saturday (16).
The Hungarian of Romanian origin coached Comaneci to win gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Games.
After this period, he defected with his wife Marta, also a coach, to the United States in 1981, a phase in which he coached American Mary Lou Retton to gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Known for his rigorous method, Karolyi was a controversial coach for many. He worked with his wife on the United States team and ran a training center in Texas.
The Karolyi couple were instrumental in transforming the United States gymnastics teams, turning them into powerful formations capable of dominating the sport’s major events.
The couple’s training center was the preparation site for the United States women’s national team in 2001, with Marta Karolyi as the women’s national team coordinator.
USA Gymnastics stopped using the facility in 2018 following the abuse scandal involving former team doctor Larry Nassar.
“A huge impact and influence on my life. Rest in peace Bela Karolyi,” Comaneci wrote on her Instagram account, along with a black and white photo of them together in their youth.
“Almost 50 years ago he guided me to the historic performance of the first perfect 10 at the Olympic Games and it changed my life forever,” Comaneci told USA Today about Karolyi, who died on Friday (15).
Dominique Moceanu, who won Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996 as part of “Team USA” coached by Karolyi, said there were two sides to the coach.
“Bela Karolyi was a man whose influence on my life and on the sport of elite gymnastics is undeniably significant. He was a complex individual, who embodied a mix of strengths and flaws that left a lasting impact on those around him,” he wrote in X .
“His harsh words and critical attitude often weighed heavily on me. Although our relationship was fraught with difficulties, some of those moments of adversity helped me forge and define my own path.”
“As we say goodbye to Bela, I choose to send loving thoughts to her family and loved ones (…) May she rest in peace.”
Karolyi was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997 and together with Marta as part of the coaching duo in 2000.
