promptly fell short of expectations at the next Olympics and tensions grew as coaches across the country resented his grueling training schedule. “Marta’s always been more in the background … more even-keeled, which doesn’t make for as good of television, but coaches have a strong admiration for her.”įollowing the 1996 Olympics, the Karolyis retired from coaching, moved exclusively to their ranch and, in 1999, Bela was named national team coordinator. “Bela has always been kind of the forefront, he’s very charismatic,” said 1996 star Kerri Strug. That team won gold, with Marta engineering it in the background. Her change? A team-oriented approach, most noticeably seen by a two-week training camp ahead of the Atlanta Games. That’s when the power shifted, though, as Marta took over as head coach in 1996. The American teams with Bela broke through a history of underwhelming finishes, but frustration with the individualized system lingered with the Karolyis. Bela was subsequently named head coach of the women’s team before the 1988 Games. They built their training ranch by hand, eventually expanding to 2,000 acres outside of Houston with gyms, animals, dorms and a log cabin. They said, ‘I have a little one, she’s looking just like Mary Lou.’”Ī flurry of activity followed: In one week the Karolyis went from just over 100 students to 1,500. “The phone was ringing off the hook,” Marta said in an interview with NBC. Mary Lou became their American superstar, winning the all-around gold in 1984 and further establishing Bela as the gregarious face of the sport. The two defected on a trip to the United States in 1981 and Bela’s previous coaching work with Nadia soon drew the attention of a young Mary Lou Retton. Marta was quietly there, helping Comaneci and the other Romanian gymnasts make precise routine adjustments.Īn emotional outburst and vocal criticism of the judging at the 1980 Moscow Olympics caused Bela Karolyi to fall out of favor with the Romanian Communist Party, spurring a move that would alter the couple’s career dramatically.
Bela was outspoken, garnering much of the coaching attention. In 1976, the 14-year-old scored the first perfect 10 in the Montreal Games, tallying five medals and sending the Karolyi duo to the forefront of the sport’s coaching ranks. That young, talented girl was Nadia Comaneci. And all it took was one protege to set their coaching careers else in motion. Marta and Bela met as college students in Romania and were married shortly after graduation in 1963. (Getty)īut how did Bela and Marta even reach this point in their careers? And why was Marta so influential at the end of the Karolyis’ time atop the gymnastics world? History has the answer. women’s gymnasts after their gold medal in the 2016 team competition. The ultimate acknowledgement of everything the husband-wife duo has done, though, came in the name of the 2016 women’s team: the Final Five, specifically recognizing Marta’s final year as team coordinator. Other names have come and gone – Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin, the Magnificent Seven, the Fierce Five – but the coaches who helped those talented women rise to international prominence remained constant. It is a complex tale of distinct coaching styles, partnered together and woven into history. Over the course of nearly six decades, the two of them created legacy that came to include some of the biggest names to have graced the Olympic mats. women’s gymnastics program doesn’t need any absence to make the heart grow fonder than it already is.Īll it takes is a trip down memory lane to understand why American gymnasts absolutely revere both Marta and her husband, Bela Karolyi. Marta Karolyi is just days from retirement – two weeks from her 74th birthday – but the U.S. Medal count | Olympic schedule | Olympic news
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