Bela Karolyi, the legendary and controversial Romanian American gymnastics coach who helped lead Mary Lou Retton, Nadia Comaneci, and Kerri Strug to Olympic gold, has died, USA Gymnastics announced. He was 82.
Karolyi, along with his wife and world-class coaching partner Marta Karolyi, is credited with catapulting US women’s gymnastics to unprecedented success.
“Bela’s wife, Marta, was involved in gymnastics … so Bela got involved, too,” Comaneci recalled to The Guardian. “I think he was learning gymnastics with us.”
At age 14, Comaneci famously scored the first “perfect 10” in Olympic gymnastics. She earned six more perfect 10s at the 1976 Games in Montreal and helped solidify Karolyi as a powerhouse coach.
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