She was in charge of the teams that went on to become some of the most successful and dominant in the history of the sport. To be clear, this was absolutely Martha’s program. The Ranch is also the location where many gymnasts were abused by Larry Nassar. Each month, training camps were held at the Karolyi Ranch this was also the location for the selection camps prior to World and Olympic championships. In 2001, Martha became the NTC and implemented the de-centralized system that has contributed to the success of the American program. In 2000, Bela was (controversially) hired as the National Team Coordinator prior to the Olympic Trials because the women’s program was not producing the results expected by USA Gymnastics. Both retired following the 1996 Olympics, where the American women won their first Olympic team gold medal. After immigrating to the US, they coached many American greats including Mary Lou Retton, Betty Okino, Kim Zmeskal, Kerri Strug, and Dominique Moceanu. Bela famously coached the Romanian National Team in the 1970s, including Nadia Comaneci, the first gymnast to score a perfect ten. Let’s have a bit of a recap: Martha (left) and Bela (right) are two of the most famous coaches in the sport.īela and Martha Karolyi are heralded as one of the legends of the sport of women’s gymnastics. I’m splitting up this update between the main players this month, first starting with Martha and Bela Karolyi. Former and current heads of USAG, USOC, and MSU have testified before Congress, even more details about who knew what and when have emerged, and we are starting to work towards a path to hold the enablers of Larry Nassar accountable. So much has happened over the past month.
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