By NANCY ARMOUR
The Associated Press
(AP) — USA Gymnastics has never received a complaint about Bela or Martha Karolyi in the nearly 30 years they have been coaching in the United States, the governing body said Wednesday, a day after a Romanian gymnast alleged the two had abused her.
Trudi Eberle Kollar, a double silver medalist at the 1980 Olympics, said the Karolyis hit her when she was at the Romanian national training center in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Karolyis coached the Romanian team before they defected to the United States in 1981.
“USA Gymnastics has not received a complaint concerning their conduct from an athlete or parent,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement. “The gymnasts the Karolyis personally coached in the States include Mary Lou Retton, Kim Zmeskal and Kerri Strug, all of whom have spoken positively about their experiences with the Karolyis…”
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I’m rather cynical about this. I suspect the Karolyis have just adapted their methods to meet local expectations. I’ve met several people who saw the Karolyi hit or slap athletes in 70s. In one case an entire audience saw, and heard, him slap a gymnast across the face during warmups a meet in Canada in 1976. The gymnast was one of the older girls on the team, who was not one of his own athletes. The meet was Milk Meet Canada, and the event was balance beam.