Former USA Gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi, who helped American Mary Lou Retton and Romanian Nadia Comaneci develop into gold medalists, has died on the age of 82.
USA Gymnastics stated that Karolyi died Friday, however the group didn’t reveal a reason behind demise.
Karolyi guided a then-14-year-old Comaneci to gold on the 1976 Video games in Montreal, 5 years earlier than he and his spouse defected to the USA. He then turned Retton, who was 16 on the time, into the primary American to safe the Olympic all-around title. She achieved the feat in Los Angeles in 1984.
Nevertheless, Karolyi typically confronted criticism for his teaching fashion, particularly when USA Gymnastics staff physician Larry Nassar was given a decades-long jail sentence for sexually assaulting lots of of gymnasts and different athletes.
With Nassar within the highlight due to his crimes, greater than a dozen gymnasts spoke out towards Karolyi, claiming that he helped create an oppressive tradition that allowed Nassar to get away together with his wrongdoings for years.
Each Karolyi and his spouse, Martha, who was additionally a coach, instructed CNN in 2018 that they didn’t know what Nassar had been as much as, however they nonetheless determined to step out of the general public eye within the wake of the Nassar trial.
USA Gymnastics finally stopped sending its athletes to coach with the Karolyis.
Karolyi retired from teaching following the 1996 Summer season Video games in Atlanta, and he was inducted into the Worldwide Gymnastics Corridor of Fame in 1997.
That did not mark the tip of Karolyi’s time with the U.S. gymnastics staff, although, as he was employed as nationwide staff coordinator in 1999. In that function, he helped implement a semi-centralized system into this system that turned Crew USA right into a powerhouse.
Nonetheless, Karolyi did not final lengthy as coordinator, getting let go after the 2000 Olympics. His affect remains to be felt in the present day, nevertheless, as ladies from the USA have received every of the previous six Olympic titles.
–Discipline Stage Media