Béla Károlyi’s passing on November 15, 2024, devastated his family and the USA Gymnastics community.
Béla Károlyi was a famed gymnastics coach who began his coaching career in 1956 when he was in Romania.
Bela is one of the pioneers who developed the Romanian centralized training system for gymnastics. One of his earlist protégés was Nadia Comăneci.
Moreover, when he moved to America in 1981, he started coaching the US gymnastics team. He and his wife, Márta Károlyi, were each coaches for the US Women’s National gymnastics team.
Highlights
- Béla Károlyi was USA Gymnastics coach and director of Károlyi Ranch in Houston.
- Béla Károlyi passed away on November 15, 2024, at 82, surrounded by his family and loved ones.
- The reason for Béla Károlyi’s death has yet to be disclosed. Fans suspect his old age illness and health complications might be the cause.
Károlyi was a skilled athlete who became a national junior boxing champion and a member of the Romanian hammer-throwing team.
Furthermore, he enrolled at the Romania College of Physical Education and practiced gymnastics. He quit his athletics involvement after having trouble with a mandatory skills test in the sport.
Throughout his career, Béla Károlyi coached nine Olympic Champions, fifteen world Champions, sixteen European medalists, and six U.S. national Champions.
Károlyi was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997. He and his wife, Márta, were inducted into the US Gymnastics Hall of Fame as a team in 2000.
Béla Károlyi Passed Away On November 15, 2024, at 82, Following An Unspecified Cause
USA Gymnastics announced the demise of Béla Károlyi on November 16, 2024, a day after his de*th on November 15.
On the official website page of USA Gymnastics, they informed the fans about Béla passing away. Announcing the news, they wrote,
Hall of Fame Coach Bela Karolyi Passes Away at 82
USA Gymnastics
The exact cause of his demise is not announced in the news. Similarly, his family has yet to disclose the reason Béla Károlyi lost his life.
The devastating news of Béla Károlyi’s absence has saddened the US Gymnast community fans and netizens.
Former American gymnast and team member of the gold medal-winning U.S Women’s Gymnastics team in 1996, Dominique Moceanu, writes on her Facebook page,
Bela Karolyi was a man whose influence on my life and the sport of elite gymnastics is undeniably significant. He was a complex individual, embodying a mix of strengths and flaws that left a lasting impact on those around him. May he rest in peace.
Dominique Moceanu
Similarly, Romanian retired gymnast Nadia Comăneci remembered Béla as an influential person in her life. On the condolences, she writes,
A big impact and influence in my life, RIP Bela Karolyi
Nadia Comăneci
Furthermore, Whitney Harding, a sports reporter for NBC affiliate WCMH of Columbus, Ohio, a former competitive gymnast, described Károlyi as an uncle figure in her life.
She took her Instagram post to honor his contribution, writing,
Bela was mortal, flawed, imperfect. I never had him as my direct coach. Instead, I was fortunate to have him more as a distant uncle. The kind of person who would literally pick me up when I was down to give me a hug.
Whitney Harding
Coach Béla Károlyi will be remembered for immensely contributing to developing USA Gymnastics into the world force.
Netizens speculated Béla Károlyi’s Demise Cause Might Be Due To Illness
While there are questions and curiosity among the netizens about the cause of Béla Károlyi’s de*th. Fans speculate that the former coach might be going through illness in the later course of time.
Most people know that Béla Károlyi had been in poor health in recent years.
He and his wife Martha largely disappeared from public view following the abuse scandal that rocked USA Gymnastics.
EXCLUSIVE: For the first time, former gymnastics team coordinators Bela and Martha Karolyi face tough questions about the Larry Nassar abuse scandal. More, including an interview with Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, tonight on #Dateline at 7/6c. pic.twitter.com/exFUqhwPVV
— Dateline NBC (@DatelineNBC) April 22, 2018
As a result of the Scandal at Karolyi Ranch, USA Gymnastics canceled its plans to buy the Ranch for athletics in July 2017.
Similarly, in January 2018, USA Gymnastics announced it was cutting ties with Karolyi Ranch altogether.
After the scandal, Béla Károlyi was barely in the media and public sphere and was mostly at home with his family.
Some of the gymnastics enthusiasts had reported that Béla is struggling because of his age-related issue, while others alleged he might be struggling with cancer.
However, there is no official news about Béla Károlyi’s illness and its link with his demise at 82.
Additional Information
- At the time of his demise, the estimated net worth of Béla Károlyi was around $10 million. His income was mainly accumulated through his career as a gymnastic coach and director of Károlyi ranch.
- Béla Károlyi was of Hungarian-Romanian-American ethnicity. He and his wife defected to the United States in 1981 after frequent clashes with Romanian officials during Nicolae Ceaușescu’s dictatorship.
- Béla Károlyi and Márta Károlyi married in 1963. They had a daughter together, Andrea Wise.
