Béla Károlyi
Encyclopedia
Béla Károlyi is a Romanian gymnastics
coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta
, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States
in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania
and the United States. The Károlyis have coached both Romania
n and United States Olympic
teams to medal-winning success.
Among the gymnasts Béla and Marta Károlyi have trained are Nadia Comăneci
(first 10), Mary Lou Retton
, Betty Okino
, Kerri Strug, Teodora Ungureanu
, Kim Zmeskal
, Kristie Phillips
and Dominique Moceanu
. In total, Károlyi has coached nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and six U.S. national champions.
n centralized gymnastics training system in Romania in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He worked as a coach at the boarding school in Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
(now renamed Oneşti
), training young girls especially chosen for their athletic potential. One of the first students at the school was six year old Nadia Comăneci
, who lived near the town and commuted from home.
Károlyi debuted as an international coach in 1974. He had to persuade the Romanian gymnastics federation to have Comăneci and his other athletes named to the 1975 European Championships and the 1976 Olympic team, as the Federation favored athletes from the competing Dinamo club in Bucharest
. At the 1976 Summer Olympics
in Montreal, he was Head Coach of the Romanian squad, and most of the members of the team were Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej athletes. The team took the silver medal and Comăneci was one of the outstanding performers of the Games, scoring the first-ever perfect 10 in Olympic competition. Altogether the Romanians won seven medals in Montreal: three gold, two silver and two bronze.
Following Comăneci's astounding success in Montreal, Károlyi's importance as a coach was recognized. He was named Head Coach of the Romanian team at the 1980 Olympics
. Károlyi came under fire from Romanian officials due to his score protests at several international meets, including the 1980 Olympics. After the Olympics, Károlyi again clashed with Romanian Federation officials, and tension escalated. During a 1981 gymnastics tour, Béla, Márta, and Romanian team choreographer Géza Pozsár defected and sought political asylum in the United States. They settled in Oklahoma
.
Károlyi's status as "Nadia's coach" quickly attracted gymnasts to his club. Only three years after his defection, Károlyi was back at the 1984 Olympics
as the individual coach of all-around champion Mary Lou Retton
and uneven bars gold medalist Julianne McNamara
. Károlyi's clout in America grew after 1984, and by the time of the 1988 Olympics
, he was influential enough to be made head coach of the women's Olympic gymnastics team. When Károlyi's status as the 1988 Olympic coach was jeopardized by the fact that he had not yet fulfilled the five-year residency requirement to become a U.S. citizen, two U.S. senators sponsored a special bill to waive the waiting period and grant him early citizenship. Károlyi was also the personal coach of three athletes on the squad: balance beam bronze medalist Phoebe Mills
, the only female U.S. gymnast to medal in Seoul; Chelle Stack and Brandy Johnson
.
After the 1988 Olympics, Károlyi's sphere of influence continued to grow, as did the number of elites training in his gym. At one meet in 1990, a journalist dubbed six top Károlyi gymnasts the "Karolyi six-pack." Although the members of the six-pack would change, the name stuck and increased Károlyi's prominence in the sport.
, Betty Okino
, Hilary Grivich
and Kerri Strug—were trained by Károlyi; the other two, Shannon Miller
and Michelle Campi, were trained by ex-Károlyi club coaches. The situation was almost repeated at the 1992 Olympics
, where Károlyi was head coach and five members of the seven-gymnast squad (six competitors; one alternate) were either trained by him or one of his proteges.
Károlyi mostly acted as a personal coach for his athletes Dominique Moceanu
and Kerri Strug at the 1996 Olympics, but still managed to draw the spotlight. After Strug was injured during the U.S. team's final rotation on vault
, Károlyi carried her to the podium to accept her gold medal. The moment was photographed and widely distributed, and became what was arguably among the most enduring memories of the 1996 Olympics.
Károlyi retired from coaching after the 1996 Olympics. He and Márta still have a ranch and gymnastics camp in New Waverly, Texas
. The following year, in 1997, Béla Károlyi was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
.
and the Pacific Alliance, they were largely unsuccessful in most major meets. In both 1997 and 1999, the American team left the World Championships without a single medal.
After the 1999 World Championships, USA Gymnastics attempted to revamp their program by hiring Károlyi to serve as National Team Coordinator. Károlyi required that all national team members attend frequent grueling camps at his ranch near Houston and selection procedures for international meets became more arbitrary. Coaches resented what they felt was Károlyi's intrusion onto their domain; athletes were under a considerable amount of stress. At the 2000 Olympics, where the U.S. team placed fourth and once again came away without a single medal, the tension had escalated to the point where gymnasts were openly speaking out against Károlyi. On April 28, 2010, the International Olympic Committee stripped China of their team medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics after it was discovered one of their gymnasts were underage and the 2000 U.S. Team was awarded the bronze medal.
In 2001, the National Team Coordinator position was handed over to Károlyi's wife, Marta. While Marta has retained some aspects of Béla's program, such as the training camp system, she has reduced the frequency of the camps. Her approach appears to be different, and generally more acceptable to both coaches and gymnasts. It has also yielded impressive competitive results: between 2001 and 2007, American women won a combined total of 34 medals in World Championship and Olympic competition, including two team titles, the 2004 Olympic
all-around, eight individual event World Championships titles, and the 2005 and 2007 World Championships all-around.
, Béla Károlyi has appeared as a guest commentator for NBC News
. He was highly bitter about China's dominance over the US and carried out a smear campaign to discredit the Chinese gymnasts. He said that the 2008 Chinese women's gymnastics team cheated by using athletes who did not meet the minimum age requirements. He and his wife stated that "They are using half-people. One of the biggest frustrations is, what arrogance. These people think we are stupid." Károlyi does disagree with the age limit, however, and has stated that the solution would be for the IOC to abolish it completely, stating that if a gymnast is good enough to earn a spot on the team at the Olympics or world championships, that athlete deserves to go. Károlyi has praised the Chinese for their competitiveness and skills during the competitions, and says that his issue is not with the athletes, but with the fact that they may be being used. "They do good gymnastics and are a good service for the sport," he said. "They have the ultimate effective training program. That’s why I am more upset that they are cheating. They don’t need cheating. They would be just as good with a lineup of eligible athletes."
Károlyi also claimed that the vault of Cheng Fei
of China was a major judging error and a "rip off".
and Erica Stokes, have stated publicly that Károlyi was verbally and psychologically abusive during workouts. Károlyi's constant critical remarks about weight and body type were said to drive some gymnasts to develop eating disorders and low self-esteem. Some gymnasts, such as Phillips and 1988 Olympian Chelle Stack, have noted that they were also compelled to continue training and competing even when coping with serious injuries such as broken bones. In one interview, Dominique Moceanu
, one of Károlyi's final proteges, noted: "I'm sure Bela saw injuries, but if you were injured, Bela didn't want to see it...You had to deal with it. I was intimidated. He looked down on me. He was 6-feet something, and I was 4-foot nothing."
Károlyi was also said to strictly monitor his gymnasts' food intake: Moceanu, for instance, stated that at meets away from home, gymnasts were limited to consuming as few as 900 calories a day. Even Károlyi supporters have admitted that at certain competitions, his gymnasts ate so sparingly that members of the men's gymnastics team smuggled food to them in their hotel rooms.
However, many of Károlyi's most prominent gymnasts have vehemently defended him against these allegations. Nadia Comăneci
, in her memoir Letters to a Young Gymnast, remarked that she literally trusted Károlyi with her life. She also stated that in Romania, the gymnasts at Károlyi's school consumed well-balanced diets and, in fact, ate better than most of the other civilians in the country at the time. Olympic medalists and Károlyi gymnasts Mary Lou Retton, Phoebe Mills
and Kim Zmeskal
, among others, have also praised Károlyi and his training regimen.
A number of former Károlyi gymnasts, both supporters and detractors, have admitted that some of the allegations about Károlyi were true, but have also claimed that the ends—medals—justified the means. In Joan Ryan's Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
, 1992 Olympian Betty Okino stated, "What Béla did worked. He motivated me by getting me mad." Some have claimed that Károlyi stopped treating gymnasts harshly when he was directly requested to do so by parents. In a column she wrote refuting many of the claims of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, Okino wrote, "Karolyi structured his training in a way that built your physical and mental strength to such a remarkable level, that even he couldn't tear you down. Bela wanted to know that when push came to shove, his athletes could handle any situation thrown at them."
In the December 8, 2007 edition of the Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei there is an interview with Adrian Goreac http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/470970/quotBela-Karoly-a-fost-un-dictatorquot/, the coach of the Romanian National Gymnastics team from 1981 to 1990. He became coach after Karolyi's left, and he talks about the latter's "dictatorial regime" during his time coaching the Romanian gymnastics team.
In November 2008, Emilia Eberle—a former Romanian national team member during the Karolyi coaching era—gave an interview to KCRA-TV
claiming that while she was a Romanian national team gymnast, both Bela and Márta Károlyi
regularly beat her and her teammates for mistakes they made in practice or competition. "In one word, I can say it was brutal," she told KCRA.
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta
Marta Károlyi
Márta Károlyi , is an American gymnastics coach and the National Team Coordinator for USA Gymnastics. Károlyi is originally from Romania, she and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians, and trained athletes there as well, but defected to the United States in 1981...
, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and the United States. The Károlyis have coached both Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n and United States Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
teams to medal-winning success.
Among the gymnasts Béla and Marta Károlyi have trained are Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer...
(first 10), Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title, after 14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.-Personal life:Retton was born in Fairmont, West...
, Betty Okino
Betty Okino
Elizabeth Anne Okino is an American actress, and former gymnast and Olympic medalist.Born in Africa, Okino moved to the United States with her family and began gymnastics at the relatively late age of 9. By 1988, only four years later, she had progressed to the elite level, placing 17th at that...
, Kerri Strug, Teodora Ungureanu
Teodora Ungureanu
Teodora Ungureanu is a retired Romanian gymnast who competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics. She is a three-time Olympic medalist and a world silver medalist. After retirement from gymnastics she enjoyed a successful career as a gymnastics coach...
, Kim Zmeskal
Kim Zmeskal
Kimberly Lynn "Kim" Zmeskal Burdette is a retired American gymnast and a former national and world gymnastics champion in the early 1990s.-Early life and training:...
, Kristie Phillips
Kristie Phillips
Kristie Phillips-Bannister , formerly known as Kristie Phillips, is a retired American elite gymnast. The 1987 senior U.S. National Champion and one of the American team's strongest and most visible competitors in the mid-1980s, Phillips was considered to be one of the front-runners for the 1988...
and Dominique Moceanu
Dominique Moceanu
Dominique "Domi" Helena Moceanu is an American gymnast who was a member of the Olympic Gold medal winning 1996 U.S...
. In total, Károlyi has coached nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and six U.S. national champions.
Early coaching career
Károlyi pioneered the RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n centralized gymnastics training system in Romania in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He worked as a coach at the boarding school in Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Onesti
Onești is a city in Bacău County, Romania, with a population of 51,681 inhabitants.Administratively, the villages of Slobozia and Borzești form part of Onești...
(now renamed Oneşti
Onesti
Onești is a city in Bacău County, Romania, with a population of 51,681 inhabitants.Administratively, the villages of Slobozia and Borzești form part of Onești...
), training young girls especially chosen for their athletic potential. One of the first students at the school was six year old Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer...
, who lived near the town and commuted from home.
Károlyi debuted as an international coach in 1974. He had to persuade the Romanian gymnastics federation to have Comăneci and his other athletes named to the 1975 European Championships and the 1976 Olympic team, as the Federation favored athletes from the competing Dinamo club in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
. At the 1976 Summer Olympics
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
in Montreal, he was Head Coach of the Romanian squad, and most of the members of the team were Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej athletes. The team took the silver medal and Comăneci was one of the outstanding performers of the Games, scoring the first-ever perfect 10 in Olympic competition. Altogether the Romanians won seven medals in Montreal: three gold, two silver and two bronze.
Following Comăneci's astounding success in Montreal, Károlyi's importance as a coach was recognized. He was named Head Coach of the Romanian team at the 1980 Olympics
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
. Károlyi came under fire from Romanian officials due to his score protests at several international meets, including the 1980 Olympics. After the Olympics, Károlyi again clashed with Romanian Federation officials, and tension escalated. During a 1981 gymnastics tour, Béla, Márta, and Romanian team choreographer Géza Pozsár defected and sought political asylum in the United States. They settled in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
.
1980s
In 1981, a group of businessmen invited Károlyi to join a gymnastics business venture. He decided to invest in the business and the Károlyis relocated to Houston, Texas. The gym ran into financial problems, and Károlyi ended up buying the gym.Károlyi's status as "Nadia's coach" quickly attracted gymnasts to his club. Only three years after his defection, Károlyi was back at the 1984 Olympics
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
as the individual coach of all-around champion Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title, after 14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.-Personal life:Retton was born in Fairmont, West...
and uneven bars gold medalist Julianne McNamara
Julianne McNamara
Julianne Lyn McNamara was an American artistic gymnast, who was born to Australian parents. She was the winner of the U.S. women's first individual event gold medal in Olympic history....
. Károlyi's clout in America grew after 1984, and by the time of the 1988 Olympics
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
, he was influential enough to be made head coach of the women's Olympic gymnastics team. When Károlyi's status as the 1988 Olympic coach was jeopardized by the fact that he had not yet fulfilled the five-year residency requirement to become a U.S. citizen, two U.S. senators sponsored a special bill to waive the waiting period and grant him early citizenship. Károlyi was also the personal coach of three athletes on the squad: balance beam bronze medalist Phoebe Mills
Phoebe Mills
Phoebe Mills is an American attorney and athlete who has been active in the sports of artistic gymnastics, diving, speed skating, and snowboarding.-Personal life:...
, the only female U.S. gymnast to medal in Seoul; Chelle Stack and Brandy Johnson
Brandy Johnson
Brandy Johnson, also known as Brandy Johnson-Scharpf is a retired American gymnast, gymnastics judge and stuntwoman....
.
After the 1988 Olympics, Károlyi's sphere of influence continued to grow, as did the number of elites training in his gym. At one meet in 1990, a journalist dubbed six top Károlyi gymnasts the "Karolyi six-pack." Although the members of the six-pack would change, the name stuck and increased Károlyi's prominence in the sport.
1990s
At the 1991 World Championships, four of the six athletes on the U.S. women's team—Kim ZmeskalKim Zmeskal
Kimberly Lynn "Kim" Zmeskal Burdette is a retired American gymnast and a former national and world gymnastics champion in the early 1990s.-Early life and training:...
, Betty Okino
Betty Okino
Elizabeth Anne Okino is an American actress, and former gymnast and Olympic medalist.Born in Africa, Okino moved to the United States with her family and began gymnastics at the relatively late age of 9. By 1988, only four years later, she had progressed to the elite level, placing 17th at that...
, Hilary Grivich
Hilary Grivich
Hilary Coplin Grivich was a world-class American gymnast and diver. She was a member of the silver medal-winning American team at the 1991 World Championships and the 1990 junior all-around U.S. National Champion in gymnastics....
and Kerri Strug—were trained by Károlyi; the other two, Shannon Miller
Shannon Miller
Shannon Lee Miller is a former artistic gymnast from Edmond, Oklahoma. She is the most decorated gymnast in U.S. History, and considered one of the greatest gymnasts the United States has ever produced...
and Michelle Campi, were trained by ex-Károlyi club coaches. The situation was almost repeated at the 1992 Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
, where Károlyi was head coach and five members of the seven-gymnast squad (six competitors; one alternate) were either trained by him or one of his proteges.
Károlyi mostly acted as a personal coach for his athletes Dominique Moceanu
Dominique Moceanu
Dominique "Domi" Helena Moceanu is an American gymnast who was a member of the Olympic Gold medal winning 1996 U.S...
and Kerri Strug at the 1996 Olympics, but still managed to draw the spotlight. After Strug was injured during the U.S. team's final rotation on vault
Vault (gymnastics)
The vault is an artistic gymnastics apparatus, as well as the skill performed using that apparatus. Vaulting is also the action of performing a vault. Both male and female gymnasts perform the vault...
, Károlyi carried her to the podium to accept her gold medal. The moment was photographed and widely distributed, and became what was arguably among the most enduring memories of the 1996 Olympics.
Károlyi retired from coaching after the 1996 Olympics. He and Márta still have a ranch and gymnastics camp in New Waverly, Texas
New Waverly, Texas
New Waverly is a city in Walker County, Texas, United States. The population was 950 at the 2000 census.-Geography:New Waverly is located at ....
. The following year, in 1997, Béla Károlyi was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics....
.
1999–2000
Following the success of the "Magnificent Seven" at the 1996 Olympics, USA Gymnastics experienced a lull. A new age limit kept some of their top gymnasts out of the World Championships in 1997. While American gymnasts did medal in international competitions such as the Goodwill GamesGoodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
and the Pacific Alliance, they were largely unsuccessful in most major meets. In both 1997 and 1999, the American team left the World Championships without a single medal.
After the 1999 World Championships, USA Gymnastics attempted to revamp their program by hiring Károlyi to serve as National Team Coordinator. Károlyi required that all national team members attend frequent grueling camps at his ranch near Houston and selection procedures for international meets became more arbitrary. Coaches resented what they felt was Károlyi's intrusion onto their domain; athletes were under a considerable amount of stress. At the 2000 Olympics, where the U.S. team placed fourth and once again came away without a single medal, the tension had escalated to the point where gymnasts were openly speaking out against Károlyi. On April 28, 2010, the International Olympic Committee stripped China of their team medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics after it was discovered one of their gymnasts were underage and the 2000 U.S. Team was awarded the bronze medal.
In 2001, the National Team Coordinator position was handed over to Károlyi's wife, Marta. While Marta has retained some aspects of Béla's program, such as the training camp system, she has reduced the frequency of the camps. Her approach appears to be different, and generally more acceptable to both coaches and gymnasts. It has also yielded impressive competitive results: between 2001 and 2007, American women won a combined total of 34 medals in World Championship and Olympic competition, including two team titles, the 2004 Olympic
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
all-around, eight individual event World Championships titles, and the 2005 and 2007 World Championships all-around.
Later career
Károlyi's wife, Marta, remains the National Team Coordinator for USA Gymnastics. During the 2008 Summer Olympics2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, Béla Károlyi has appeared as a guest commentator for NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
. He was highly bitter about China's dominance over the US and carried out a smear campaign to discredit the Chinese gymnasts. He said that the 2008 Chinese women's gymnastics team cheated by using athletes who did not meet the minimum age requirements. He and his wife stated that "They are using half-people. One of the biggest frustrations is, what arrogance. These people think we are stupid." Károlyi does disagree with the age limit, however, and has stated that the solution would be for the IOC to abolish it completely, stating that if a gymnast is good enough to earn a spot on the team at the Olympics or world championships, that athlete deserves to go. Károlyi has praised the Chinese for their competitiveness and skills during the competitions, and says that his issue is not with the athletes, but with the fact that they may be being used. "They do good gymnastics and are a good service for the sport," he said. "They have the ultimate effective training program. That’s why I am more upset that they are cheating. They don’t need cheating. They would be just as good with a lineup of eligible athletes."
Károlyi also claimed that the vault of Cheng Fei
Cheng Fei
Cheng Fei is a Chinese gymnast. She is a three-time World Champion on the vault and 2006 World Champion on floor exercise. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Chinese teams for the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China...
of China was a major judging error and a "rip off".
Controversy
Several of Károlyi's athletes from the six-pack era were critical of his training methods. Some of his former athletes, including Kristie PhillipsKristie Phillips
Kristie Phillips-Bannister , formerly known as Kristie Phillips, is a retired American elite gymnast. The 1987 senior U.S. National Champion and one of the American team's strongest and most visible competitors in the mid-1980s, Phillips was considered to be one of the front-runners for the 1988...
and Erica Stokes, have stated publicly that Károlyi was verbally and psychologically abusive during workouts. Károlyi's constant critical remarks about weight and body type were said to drive some gymnasts to develop eating disorders and low self-esteem. Some gymnasts, such as Phillips and 1988 Olympian Chelle Stack, have noted that they were also compelled to continue training and competing even when coping with serious injuries such as broken bones. In one interview, Dominique Moceanu
Dominique Moceanu
Dominique "Domi" Helena Moceanu is an American gymnast who was a member of the Olympic Gold medal winning 1996 U.S...
, one of Károlyi's final proteges, noted: "I'm sure Bela saw injuries, but if you were injured, Bela didn't want to see it...You had to deal with it. I was intimidated. He looked down on me. He was 6-feet something, and I was 4-foot nothing."
Károlyi was also said to strictly monitor his gymnasts' food intake: Moceanu, for instance, stated that at meets away from home, gymnasts were limited to consuming as few as 900 calories a day. Even Károlyi supporters have admitted that at certain competitions, his gymnasts ate so sparingly that members of the men's gymnastics team smuggled food to them in their hotel rooms.
However, many of Károlyi's most prominent gymnasts have vehemently defended him against these allegations. Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer...
, in her memoir Letters to a Young Gymnast, remarked that she literally trusted Károlyi with her life. She also stated that in Romania, the gymnasts at Károlyi's school consumed well-balanced diets and, in fact, ate better than most of the other civilians in the country at the time. Olympic medalists and Károlyi gymnasts Mary Lou Retton, Phoebe Mills
Phoebe Mills
Phoebe Mills is an American attorney and athlete who has been active in the sports of artistic gymnastics, diving, speed skating, and snowboarding.-Personal life:...
and Kim Zmeskal
Kim Zmeskal
Kimberly Lynn "Kim" Zmeskal Burdette is a retired American gymnast and a former national and world gymnastics champion in the early 1990s.-Early life and training:...
, among others, have also praised Károlyi and his training regimen.
A number of former Károlyi gymnasts, both supporters and detractors, have admitted that some of the allegations about Károlyi were true, but have also claimed that the ends—medals—justified the means. In Joan Ryan's Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters is a 1995 nonfiction book by San Francisco Chronicle sports writer Joan Ryan detailing the difficult training regimens endured by young women in competitive sports such as gymnastics and ice skating,...
, 1992 Olympian Betty Okino stated, "What Béla did worked. He motivated me by getting me mad." Some have claimed that Károlyi stopped treating gymnasts harshly when he was directly requested to do so by parents. In a column she wrote refuting many of the claims of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, Okino wrote, "Karolyi structured his training in a way that built your physical and mental strength to such a remarkable level, that even he couldn't tear you down. Bela wanted to know that when push came to shove, his athletes could handle any situation thrown at them."
In the December 8, 2007 edition of the Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei there is an interview with Adrian Goreac http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/470970/quotBela-Karoly-a-fost-un-dictatorquot/, the coach of the Romanian National Gymnastics team from 1981 to 1990. He became coach after Karolyi's left, and he talks about the latter's "dictatorial regime" during his time coaching the Romanian gymnastics team.
In November 2008, Emilia Eberle—a former Romanian national team member during the Karolyi coaching era—gave an interview to KCRA-TV
KCRA-TV
KCRA-TV, channel 3, is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States. KCRA-TV is owned by Hearst Television, a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, and is an affiliate of the NBC television network...
claiming that while she was a Romanian national team gymnast, both Bela and Márta Károlyi
Marta Károlyi
Márta Károlyi , is an American gymnastics coach and the National Team Coordinator for USA Gymnastics. Károlyi is originally from Romania, she and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians, and trained athletes there as well, but defected to the United States in 1981...
regularly beat her and her teammates for mistakes they made in practice or competition. "In one word, I can say it was brutal," she told KCRA.
Books
- Károlyi, Béla and Nancy Ann Richardson. Feel No Fear: The Power, Passion, and Politics of a Life in Gymnastics. ISBN 078686012X (hardback), ISBN 0786880201 (paperback)
