In “Athlete A,” interviewees speculate that the tough environment at the Karolyi Ranch allowed Nassar to easily prey on victims. Nassar had seen several of the Karolyis’ trainees as a doctor through USA Gymnastics, according to NBC News. And if anybody comes up with that one, that's a dirty lie," Béla added.Īlthough many still regard the two as icons in the industry, their reputation has further been questioned as victims of Nassar's push for charges to be filed against them. You have to be a strong person to even handle the pressure," Martha said. When discussing the Nassar case with NBC’s Dateline in April 2018, the two were interrogated about their own training regiments. However, under scrutiny amidst several investigations in the wake of the Nassar trials, the Karolyis have had to deny that practices they used to train their gymnasts were abusive. The pair were even welcomed back to Romania in 1993 as heroes, the local outlet reports. When their student, Mary Lou Retton, scored Olympic gold in 1984, the two were returned to a position of grace within the sport. The two survived in poverty in California until they got coaching jobs in Texas. "By the time we were able to get through the phone lines, the secret police knew that we hadn't returned. "It was the day President Reagan was shot," Martha told The Rocky Mountain News. The government's hunch wasn't wrong, and the two ultimately sought asylum in the United States after slipping away during a gymnastics tour. The duo established a boarding school for young gymnasts in Oneşti, where several prominent athletes were trained - including Nadia Elena Comăneci, who is famously the first ever gymnast to receive a perfect score at the Olympic Games, according to the Rocky Mountain News.īéla found himself in skirmishes with the Romanian authorities, who suspected they may defect to another country. Béla helped coach Martha to success in Romania and the two were married in 1963. Béla had been a relatively prolific champion boxer and Olympic-level hammer thrower - but it was his introduction to Martha that actually got him interested in gymnastics, according to The Guardian. Who are Béla and Martha Karolyi and what did they know about Nassar before he was caught?īéla Karolyi hails from Cluj, the capital of Transylvania, according to a 2008 article in The Rocky Mountain News.
This is precisely the question that documentaries like Erin Lee Carr's, "At The Heart Of The Gold," and Netflix’s newly released “Athlete A” explore.Īs key players involved in what may amount to a cover-up are examined, many wonder what role the legendary Karolyis, a famous duo of coaches who trained several Olympic gold medalists, may have played in Nassar's crimes. How did Larry Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics doctor who will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted for decades of sexual abuse, manage to get away with molesting young athletes for so long?
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