Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82.
FILE - Women's gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi expresses his excitement over the announcement that Philadelphia will host the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in gymnastics, during a news conference in Philadelphia, in this Dec. 12, 2006 file photo. Karolyi and wife Martha trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in the U.S. and Romania, including Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.
The Karolyis defected to the United States in 1981 and over the next 30-plus years became a guiding force in American gymnastics, though not without controversy. Bela helped guide Retton — all of 16 — to the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and memorably helped an injured Kerri Strug off the floor at the 1996 Games in Atlanta after Strug's vault secured the team gold for the Americans.
It would not be the last time Karolyi was accused of grandstanding and pushing his athletes too far physically and mentally. Still, some of Karolyi's most famous students were always among his staunchest defenders. When Strug got married, she and Karolyi took a photo recreating their famous scene from the 1996 Olympics, when he carried her onto the medals podium after she vaulted on a badly sprained ankle.
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Bela Karolyi, gymnastics coach who mentored Nadia and Mary Lou and courted controversy, dies at 82Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
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Bela Karolyi, gymnastics coach who mentored Nadia and Mary Lou and courted controversy, dies at 82Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Read more »
Bela Karolyi, gymnastics coach who mentored Nadia and Mary Lou and courted controversy, dies at 82Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Read more »
Bela Karolyi, gymnastics coach who mentored Nadia and Mary Lou and courted controversy, dies at 82Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Read more »
Bela Karolyi, gymnastics coach who mentored Nadia and Mary Lou and courted controversy, dies at 82Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Read more »
Bela Karolyi, gymnastics coach who mentored Nadia and Mary Lou and courted controversy, dies at 82Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82. USA Gymnastics said Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Read more »