Béla Károlyi

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Béla Károlyi (born September 13, 1942), is a world-renowned Romanian gymnastics coach. He possesses Romanian and American citizenship. Together with his wife, Márta, (sometimes called Martha), Károlyi has coached both the United States and Romanian Olympic teams to medal success. He was born in Cluj, Romania.

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[edit] Early coaching career

Károlyi pioneered the Romanian centralized gymnastics training system in Romania in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He established a boarding school in Oneşti, training young girls especially chosen for their athletic potential. One of the first students at Károlyi's school was six year old Nadia Comaneci, who lived near Oneşti and commuted from home.[1]

Károlyi debuted as an international coach in 1974. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, he was Head Coach of the Romanian squad. Most of the members of the team were Oneşti athletes.

Following Nadia Comaneci'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. However, after the Olympics, Károlyi again clashed with Romanian Federation officials. Tension escalated, and during a 1981 gymnastics tour, Béla, Márta, and Romanian team choreographer Geza Pozar defected and sought political asylum in the United States. They settled in Oklahoma.[1] [2][3]

[edit] The six-pack

[edit] 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 Games 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.

The US finished sixth of 39 teams at 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 US team once again came away without a single medal, the tension had escalated to the point where gymnasts were openly speaking out against Károlyi to the media. [4][5] [6]

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 (although camps are less frequent now), her approach appears to be different, and more acceptable to both coaches and gymnasts. It has also yielded more impressive competitive results: between 2001 and 2005, American women won a combined total of 24 medals in World Championship and Olympic competition.

[edit] Controversy

Károlyi's career as a coach has been saddled by controversy.

While still in Romania, Károlyi came under fire from Romanian officials due to his score protests and conduct at several international meets, including the 1980 Olympics. His school in Oneşti was originally shunned in favor of Bucharest's Dinamo club; Károlyi had to battle the Romanian gymnastics federation to get Nadia Comaneci and his other athletes named to the 1975 European Championships and the 1976 Olympic team. [1]

In America, Károlyi's training methods have been roundly criticized. Some of his former athletes, including Kristie Phillips 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. [7] Some gymnasts, such as Phillips and 1988 Olympian Chelle Stack, have noted that they were compelled to continue training and competing even when coping with serious injuries such as broken bones.[7] 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."[8]

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 little as 900 calories a day. [9] 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.[7]

However, many of Károlyi's most prominent gymnasts have vehemently defended him against these allegations. Nadia Comaneci, 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.[1] Olympic medalists and Károlyi gymnasts Mary Lou Retton,[10] Phoebe Mills, Betty Okino and Kim Zmeskal, among others, have also praised Károlyi and his training regimen. [11] [7]

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.[7] And in a column she wrote refuting many of the claims of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, Betty 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."[12]

[edit] 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)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Comaneci, Nadia. Letters to a Young Gymnast. 2004, Basic Books. ISBN 0465012760
  2. ^ Béla Karolyi's bio at USA Gymnastics
  3. ^ Thomas, Robert Mcg. Jr and Michael Janofsky. "Citizen Karolyi" The New York Times, March 10, 1987.
  4. ^ Mariotti, Jay. "Bela-aching tough to stomach" Chicago Sun-Times, 20 September 2000
  5. ^ Shelton, Gary. "Time to bid Bela goodbye" St. Petersburg Times, 20 September 2000.
  6. ^ Roberts, Selena."U.S. Gymnasts Try to Catch Karolyi's Eye" The New York Times, 19 August 2000.
  7. ^ a b c d e Ryan, Joan (1995). Little Girls in Pretty Boxes. Garden City: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385477901. 
  8. ^ Reid, Scott M. "Gymnasts in pain: Out of balance" O.C. Register December 19 2004
  9. ^ Reid, Scott M. "Emphasis on thin is a heavy burden" O.C. Register, December 20 2004
  10. ^ Béla Karolyi 2007 Interview with Mary Lou Retton on Sidewalks Entertainment
  11. ^ Okino, Betty. "Betty Okino's Olympic Report: Bela Karolyi" Sports Hollywood, 2000
  12. ^ Okino, Betty. "The Balanced View: Betty Okino", SportsHollywood.com, 2000.

[edit] External links