Bela Karolyi, one of the United States’ most eminent gymnastics coaches alongside wife Márta, has died at age 82, a spokesperson for USA Gymnastics said Saturday evening.
Jill Geer, a spokesperson for the organization, the nation’s governing body for the sport, confirmed Karolyi died Friday. A cause of death was not provided.
Bela Karolyi helped build USA Gymnastics into an Olympics and international competition powerhouse starting in the 1980s and extending through the 2010s, when his wife had taken over many of his leadership duties.
After success with Nadia Comăneci in Romania, the couple helped to launch the athletic careers of U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame inductees Dominique Dawes, Phoebe Mills, Betty Okino, Kerri Strug, Mary Lou Retton and Kim Zmeskal.
They found early fame in Retton, the first American woman to win an Olympic individual all-around gold, which she accomplished at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Retton was a fan of Comăneci’s, and found herself embedded in the program of the Karolyis in Houston in the early 1980s. She has said she didn’t expect much from the experience she otherwise cherished.
In an interview with USA Gymnastics in 2016, Retton described her first American Cup competition under the Karolyis.
“I figured I’m just going to sit in the stands at Madison Square Garden and just shoot the breeze,” she said. “It would be a learning experience for me because I had never been up against the Russians and the top girls in the world. I had nothing to lose, literally. … The night before, Bela said, ‘Mary Lou, this is your chance.’ And in typical Bela fashion: ‘Don’t let me down.’”
The Karolyis defected from Romania, a gymnastics powerhouse, during a U.S. exhibition tour for the sport in 1981 as their homeland experienced economic decline amid the Cold War, according to USA Gymnastics.
They settled in Oklahoma before moving to Houston to set up a gym that became a magnet for American women hoping to compete on the world stage.
Bela eventually served as national team coordinator before stepping down in 2001. Márta, 82, took over the role until her retirement in 2016, giving the couple a historic span of influence that included Márta’s work with Simone Biles.
In 2016, USA Gymnastics purchased Karolyi Ranch and celebrated the couple’s influence on American competitors.
The couple was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame as part of its class of 2000. In marking the achievement, USA Gymnastics said in a statement, “Bela and Marta produced 28 Olympians, nine Olympic Champions, 15 World Champions, 12 European medalists, and six U.S. National Champions in 30 years of coaching in both their native Romania and in the U.S.”
The Karolyis’ time as top coaches for USA Gymnastics overlapped with the tenure of former team doctor Larry Nassar, who is serving time in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in 2017 to federal charges stemming from his handling of thousands of images of child pornography.
The former doctor was also convicted in Michigan of molesting young girls under the guise of treatment, with more than 265 people, including USA Gymnastics national team stars Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, saying Nassar victimized them.
In an interview in 2018, Márta Karolyi was asked how she felt about allegations that Nassar committed some of his crimes at the USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center at Karolyi Ranch in Texas, where the couple presided over strict training regimens with high expectations.
“That’s awful,” she said, “but I would say even if they have big names or no names, any child who was violated by Nassar, it’s a crime.”
She emphasized that Nassar was USA Gymnastics’ hire and said that although the facilities bear the couple’s name, USA Gymnastics was its ultimate operator. Bela Karolyi said the couple was unaware of complaints Nassar harassed or assaulted women in the program.
Karolyi said he didn’t like Nassar. “I had the feeling of a snake coming to bite you,” he said.
In 2018, USA Gymnastics terminated its contract with Karolyi Ranch and closed the facility in Walker County, Texas.
Gymnasts who trained with Karolyi offered heartfelt memories of their time with the star coach, though some of those experiences were admittedly conflicted.
Hall of Fame gymnast Dominique Moceanu, a member of the squad that achieved the United States’ first women’s team gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, said life training under Karolyi came with challenges.
“His harsh words and critical demeanor often weighed heavily on me,” she said on X Saturday night. “While our relationship was fraught with difficulty, some of these moments of hardship helped me forge and define my own path.”
Whitney Harding, a sports reporter for NBC affiliate WCMH of Columbus, Ohio, a former competitive gymnast, described Karolyi as an uncle figure in her life.
“Bela was mortal, flawed, imperfect,” she said in a post on social media. “I never had him as my direct coach. Instead, I was fortunate to have him more as an uncle. The kind of person who would literally pick me up when I was down to give me a hug.”
Harding described Karolyi as someone who was quick to offer encouraging words — “the somewhat-coach who would bellow out, ‘Way to go!’ when I did something right or the classic, ‘You can do it!’ when I was scared.”
Comăneci said on Instagram that Bela Karolyi had a “big impact and influence in my life.” Included with the statement was a black-and-white photo of the two walking when the five-time Olympics gold medalist was a young girl.
