Who is Bela Karolyi?
A skilled athlete and a national junior boxing champion, Bela Karolyi was born in Hungary on September 13, 1942. He pursued the study of gymnastics at the Romania College of Physical Education. During his college senior year, he was assigned to coach the women s gymnastics team, where he first met his future wife Marta Eross.
After the wedding in 1963, the couple moved to a small town and together launched a gymnastics class at a local elementary school. They rose through fame as the government invited them to create a national school for gymnastics. In the late 1960s, Bela Karolyi started coaching the six-year-old Nadia Comaneci.