Márta Károlyi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Márta Károlyi, sometimes called Martha (born 1942), is a Romanian gymnastics coach of Hungarian ethnicity. Together with her husband, Béla, Károlyi has trained nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and six U.S. national champions, including Mary Lou Retton, Betty Okino, Kerri Strug, Teodora Ungureanu, Nadia Comaneci, Kim Zmeskal and Dominique Moceanu.

Contents

[edit] Romania

The Károlyis pioneered the Romanian centralized gymnastics training system in Romania in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They established a boarding school in Oneşti, training young girls specially chosen for their athletic potential. One of the first students at the Károlyis' school was six year old Nadia Comaneci, who lived near Oneşti and commuted from home.

While Béla became a highly visible figure in Romanian gymnastics, accompanying the team to major competitions and, often, clashing with officials in the sport, Marta remained in the background, coaching and choreographing routines for some of the team's gymnasts.

In 1981, the Károlyis, along with Romanian team choreographer Geza Pozar, defected during a gymnastics tour in the United States. They were granted asylum and settled in Oklahoma.

[edit] 1980s and 1990s

After their defection in 1981, the Károlyis soon established a gym in Houston, Texas. Béla's status as "Nadia's coach" quickly attracted gymnasts to the club, and by the late 1980s, the Károlyi gym had become the preeminent training facility in the United States. By 1990, Károlyi gymnasts were so predominant at national United States meets that journalists dubbed the top cluster of athletes the "Károlyi six-pack." At the 1991 World Championships, for example, every single gymnast on the American squad was either a Károlyi athlete or trained by a former Károlyi club coach.

Károlyi has avoided most of the controversy and accusations of abusive coaching that have trailed her husband, opting for a quieter, less abrasive approach. In the Károlyi coaching team, Béla was often known as the "motivator," while Márta was the "technician," applying her gymnastics savvy to helping her athletes learn and perfect their technique, mechanics and form. Béla accompanied the gymnasts to meets and was a highly visible presence to both the gymnastics community and the media; Márta remained in the background.

In 1996, Márta, and not Béla, was chosen as the head coach of the US women's team for the 1996 Olympics. However, Béla still captured the spotlight when he carried an injured Kerri Strug to the medal podium after she vaulted on an injured ankle in the team competition.

[edit] National Team Coordinator

Following the 1996 Olympics, the Károlyis retired from coaching. However, three years later, Béla returned to the public eye when he was named the National Team Coordinator for the U.S. women's gymnastics team. His approach was largely protested and resisted by both the national team gymnasts and their coaches, who, by the 2000 Olympics, were so frustrated and unhappy that they spoke about the situation publicly.

In 2001, on the recommendation of the US national team coaches, the position was handed over to Márta. While she maintained some of aspects of Béla's original program, her approach has been different, and more acceptable, to the gymnasts and their coaches. It has also yielded more impressive competitive results: between 2001 and 2005, American women won a combined total of twenty-four medals in World Championship and Olympic competition.

As coordinator, Márta oversees all aspects of the women's national team. Among her duties are selecting athletes for competitions, determining apparatus lineups at the meets, and making recommendations about skills and routine compositions. The Karolyis daughter Andrea is the nutritionist for the team developing healthy menus for the girls while they are at the ranch.

[edit] See also

Béla Károlyi

[edit] Sources