Gymnastics-Bela Karolyi, former coach of Comaneci and US team, dies aged 82

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(Reuters) – Former Romania and United States coach Bela Karolyi, who trained Nadia Comaneci to become the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics, has died aged 82, USA Gymnastics said late on Saturday.

Karolyi, who was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997, died on Friday but no cause of death was given.

Karolyi coached 14-year-old Romanian Comaneci to three gold medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and her score of 10.0 in the asymmetric bars was the first time the mark had been awarded at the Games.

“A big impact and influence in my life. RIP Bela Karolyi,” Comaneci wrote on social media alongside photos of the two together.

Karolyi, who was born in Hungary and defected to the U.S. from Romania in 1981, was a member of the coaching staff on five U.S. Olympic teams.

He worked with some of the most successful U.S. athletes of the 1980s and 1990s, including Mary Lou Retton who became the first American to win the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Karolyi was appointed the U.S. national team’s co-ordinator in 1999 before his wife Marta replaced him in 2001. The couple ran a training centre in Texas which became the U.S. women’s team’s base in 2001.

In 2018, USA Gymnastics stopped the venue from being used following the abuse scandal involving former team doctor Larry Nassar.

Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to 40 to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to 10 counts of sexual assault against girls and young women, including Olympians.

The Karolyis later said they were unaware of Nassar’s crimes.

(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)