Bela Karolyi, Gymanstics Coach Who Discovered Nadia Comaneci, Dies at 82

Bela Karolyi, who coached Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug to Olympic gold, has died. He was 82.

Comaneci confirmed the news on Instagram, where she captioned a series of photos of her and Karolyi, “A big impact and influence in my life. RIP Bela Karolyi.”

Karolyi leaves behind a complicated legacy within the international gymnastics community. Hailed as the person who discovered Comaneci on a playground in Romania, he and his wife Marta were a dynamic and formidable coaching team.

The pair were elementary school teachers in Transylvania when they began to teach the children gymnastics. They were soon named head coaches of the national team and debuted a roster full of children at the 1976 Montreal Olympics — a time when most Olympian-level gymnasts were approaching adulthood. The team went on to win the silver medal and to change the face — or rather the age — of the sport for several decades.

The Montreal Games were also where Comaneci scored the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics history, something she did a total of six times at the competition.

The Karolyis came under scrutiny after blasting the judging at the 1980 Games in Moscow, and the two decided to stay in the United States after bringing their Olympic team to the country in 1981. They began coaching soon after arriving and soon encountered Mary Lou Retton at their gym.

The Karolyis skyrocketed to American gymnastics fame after Retton became the first American to win the Olympic all-around in 1984. Their gymnasts won every U.S. all-around title between 1987 and 1992, and the pair retired after Kim Zmeskal became the first American to win the world championships.

That retirement was short-lived. Sometime between 1992 and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the pair returned as the coaches of Dominque Moceanu and Kerri Strug, who were both named to the women’s team. Karolyi famously carried a badly injured Strug off the vault floor after she injured her ankle in her final event of the night, sealing the Americans’ first women’s team medal.

Karolyi again retired following the 1996 Games, but was coaxed back into the sport after USA Gymnastics appointed him the national team coordinator in 1999. Karolyi was pushed out of the role the following year after several gymnasts spoke out against his methods of instruction. Marta took over the role following his departure.

Bela Karolyi was born September 13, 1942, in what was then Kolozsvar, Hungary and is now Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He met his wife Marta during his senior year of college at the Romania College of Physical Education when he also coached the school’s gymnastics team. The pair married in 1963 and had one child, Andrea Wise.