Bela Karolyi, former USA Gymnastics coach, dies at age 82

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Bela Karolyi disappeared from the public eye after the abuse scandal that rocked USA Gymnastics. Karolyi coached Nadia Comaneci to the first Olympic perfect 10 and Mary Lou Retton to all-around gold.

Bela Karolyi, who led Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton to Olympic gold and revolutionized the sport of gymnastics only to see her legacy destroyed by allegations of coaching abuse, has died. He was 82.

Comaneci confirmed the news with a post on her Instagramshowing a carousel of photos including a black and white photo of her with the trainer on a walk in the woods. The caption read: “A great influence and influence in my life. RIP Bela Karolyi.”

“Almost 50 years ago, he guided me to the historic performance of the First Perfect 10 in the Olympics … and it changed my life forever,” Comaneci told USA TODAY Sports of Karolyi, who died Friday.

A cause of death has not been disclosed.

Karolyi had been in poor health in recent years, and he and wife Martha largely disappeared from the public eye after the abuse scandal rocked USA Gymnastics. Former team doctor Larry Nassar sexually abused hundreds of girls and young women, some of the abuse occurring during training camps at the Karolyi ranch. The Karolys denied any knowledge of Nassar’s abuse, but the scandal brought new attention to complaints that they had been physically and emotionally abusive as coaches. In 2017, USA Gymnastics backed out of a deal to buy the Karolyi ranch and use it as a national team training facility, effectively severing ties with the couple.

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Karolyi rose to prominence in his native Romania. He and Martha were elementary school teachers in Transylvania when they began teaching their students gymnastics as a way to keep warm. Within a few years they had been given responsibility for the national team.

Karolyi shook up the sport in 1976 when he arrived at the Montreal Olympics with a team of children. Most elite female gymnasts in the 1970s were in their late teens or early 20s, but Karolyi’s team had only one gymnast older than 14. Romania won the silver medal, cementing for the next four decades the idea of that gymnastics was a sport reserved for the young.

It was also in Montreal that the world was introduced to Comaneci, a dark-eyed, dark-haired sprite who scored the first perfect 10 at the Olympics. Comaneci would repeat that feat six times en route to winning three gold medals, with Karolyi there to wrap her in a bear hug after each routine.

Although Karolyi was initially celebrated in Romania for the team’s success, he fell out of favor with the government four years later after criticizing the judging at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Karolyi was outraged, believing that Comaneci had been robbed of another gold medal, but Romanian officials were horrified that he had embarrassed the Soviet hosts.

Karolyi knew he would be punished, it was just a matter of when. When he brought Comaneci and the Romanian team to the United States in March 1981, he and Martha decided to defect despite neither of them speaking English and their young daughter still in Romania.

Karolyi spent the first few months in America doing menial jobs before reuniting with Americans he knew in the gymnastics community. Soon he and Martha were training again—including a bubbly teenager from West Virginia named Mary Lou.

In 1984, Retton became the first American woman to win the Olympic all-around title.

For the next eight years, the Karolyis were the most prominent gymnastics coaches in the United States. A Karolyi gymnast won every American all-around title from 1987 to 1992, and Kim Zmeskal in 1991 became the first American woman to win the world championships.

Karolyis retired after the 1992 Olympics, but returned ahead of the Atlanta Games to coach Dominique Moceanu and Kerri Strug. It was Strug who sealed the team gold, the first for the American women, with a jump on a badly injured ankle. Karolyi, ever the showman, carried her onto the medal stand.

The Karolians retreated again after Atlanta. But in 1999, USA Gymnastics convinced Karolyi to return and oversee an overhaul of the American training system. Instead of gymnasts training on their own and only meeting at events, the national team would have monthly training camps. This semi-centralized system allowed gymnasts to stay at home instead of concentrating in one or two high-powered gyms, but it was supposed to promote better camaraderie and communication. Although Karolyi only served in the role of national team coordinator for one year, Martha succeeded him and turned the U.S. women into a powerhouse.

Follow Nancy Armor on social media @nrarmour

This article was updated to include video.