Béla Károlyi, the gymnastics coach who rose to prominence by training Olympic all-around champions Nadia Comăneci and Mary Lou Retton, has died at 82, USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Saturday night.
The governing body for the sport in the United States said Károlyi died on Friday, though the cause of death was not immediately clear.
He quickly built his reputation in the United States after guiding Retton to gold at the 1984 Games.
He was named the head coach of the 1992 Olympic team after years of his gymnasts excelling at domestic and international competitions, though many were plagued by injuries because of overtraining.
In 2018, USA Gymnastics cut ties with the training center, known as the Károlyi Ranch, where instances of abuse occurred.
Persons:
Béla Károlyi, Nadia Comăneci, Mary Lou Retton, Károlyi, Márta, Béla, Lawrence G, Nassar, Dominique Moceanu, Gabriela Geiculescu, Svetlana Boginskaya, ” Moceanu, Comăneci, Kerri Strug, Strug, ” Károlyi, Kim Zmeskal, Julianne McNamara, David Madison
Organizations:
Comăneci, USA, American, International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame, Getty
Locations:
USA, United States, American, Romanian, Texas, Atlanta, Béla, Kolozsvár, Hungary, Cluj, Napoca, Romania, Houston