Bela Karolyi Béla Károlyi (born September 13, 1942 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania), is a world-renowned gymnastics coach. Together with his wife, Marta (sometimes called Martha), Károlyi has coached United States and Romania Olympic teams to medal success. Károlyi pioneered the Romanian centralized gymnastics training system in Romania in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He established a boarding school in Onesti, training young girls specially chosen for their athletic potential. One of the first students at Karolyi's school was six year old Nadia Comaneci, who lived near Onesti and commuted from home.
Karolyi debuted as an international coach in 1974. At the 1976 Olympics he was Head Coach of the Romanian squad. Most of the members of the team were Onesti athletes.
Following Nadia Comaneci's astounding success in Montreal, Karolyi's importance as a coach was recognized. He was named Head Coach of the Romanian team at the 1980 Olympics. However, after the Olympics, Karolyi again clashed with Romanian Federation officials. Tension escalated, and during a 1981 gymnastics tour, Bela, Marta, and Romanian team choreographer Geza Pozar defected and sought political asylum in the United States. They settled in Oklahoma.
