This, sadly, seems to be the week of Romanian coach abuse.
Gymbrooke cited an award of infamy presented to both Bela and Marta by Romanian-Gymnastics.com:
… cruel, brutal and abusive, Soviet-inspired gymnastics training system in Romania, Bela Karolyi and wife Martha got the “deserved†recognition: “The Platinum Cactus Award†from the most popular webiste (Google) about Romanian gymnastics: http://www.romanian-gymnastics.com.
I do not know either Karolyi personally, but many friends whose opinions I trust have many positive things to say about both.
Where would our sport be today without Nadia?
It reminds me of the Chinese saying: Mao was 70% good, 30% bad.
Have the Karolyis ever gone “too far” in their many decades of coaching at the highest level?
Undoubtedly.
The future of our sport is not the Karolyi way. Doing 10 full routines the day before a major competition was stupid when Nadia did it in 1976. And it was stupid when I saw Marta Karolyi do the same thing in recent years with US teams.
Smarter, safer coaches will succeed them, no doubt.
But are the Karolyis systematically “cruel, brutal and abusive”?
Hardly.
Karolyi controversy – Wikipedia
Gymnastics Coaching.com 