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Bela KarolyiBela Karolyi (born September 13, 1942 in Cluj-Napoca Romania), is a famous gymnastics coach. Karolyi has helped United States Olympic teams garner many medals during four different Olympics. He was also Olympic coach for Romania. Karolyi's debut as a coach was in 1974. He debuted as an Olympic coach was during the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. He also participated as a coach for Romania at the 1980 Moscow, Russia Olympics. During a Romanian team tour of the United States in 1981, he and his wife, Martha defected, getting political asylum in the States. They settled in Oklahoma. Karolyi was asked by a group of businessmen to join in a gym business venture the same year in which he moved to the United States. He decided to invest in the business and the Karolyis relocated to the Houston, Texas, area. The gym ran into economical problems, however, and Karolyi ended up buying it. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California, Karolyi attended as an individual coach. The next time he returned to an Olympic competition, at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, he had been named head coach of the United States team overall. He returned in that position at the 1992 games in Barcelona, Spain. Karolyi only oversaw coaching of the women's American team at the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta, Georgia, but the team won the team competition gold medal, and the image of him carrying an injured Kerri Strug on his arms after she secured the team gold medal became arguably one of the most enduring images in sports history. The Karolyis have an Olympic training camp in Houston, and they keep running the gym they bought in 1982. Among the gymnasts that Bela and Martha Karolyi have trained are Mary Lou Retton, Betty Okino, Kerri Strug, Carly Janiga, Nadia Comaneci and Dominique Moceanu. Karolyi has trained nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and six American national champions. Karolyi, Bela Karolyi, Bela (coach)
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