Márta Károlyi
| Márta Károlyi | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Márta Erőss August 29, 1942 Székelyudvarhely, Kingdom of Hungary (now Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania) |
| Residence | Karolyi Ranch, Huntsville, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Gymnastics coach |
| Known for | Romanian centralized gymnastics training system and coach to many world champions in Romania and U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Béla Károlyi |
| Children | Andrea Károlyi Wise |
| Parent(s) | Júlia Bálint, Ernő Erőss |
Márta Károlyi (pronounced [ˈkaːroji ˈmaːrtɒ], née Erőss; born August 29, 1942) is a Romanian gymnastics coach of Hungarian descent and the national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics. She and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania, Romania, and trained athletes in Romania, but defected to the United States in 1981. Béla and Márta Károlyi have trained nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and many U.S. national champions, including Mary Lou Retton, Betty Okino, Kerri Strug, Teodora Ungureanu, Phoebe Mills, Nadia Comăneci,Kim Zmeskal, and Dominique Moceanu.
Romania's famed centralized training program has its roots in the 1950s; the Károlyis helped develop the program further 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 Comăneci, 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, Márta remained in the background, coaching and choreographing routines for some of the team's gymnasts.
In 1981, the Károlyis, along with fellow Hungarian-Romanian team choreographer Géza Pozsár, defected during a gymnastics tour in the United States. They were granted asylum and settled in Oklahoma. The couple's daughter, Andrea, joined them later.
After their defection, the Károlyis 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 dominant at national United States meets that journalists dubbed the top cluster of athletes the "Károlyi six-pack." At the 1991 World Championships, every single gymnast on the American squad was either a Károlyi athlete or trained by a former Károlyi club coach.
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Wikipedia