Béla Károlyi, the gymnastics coach who honed the talents of Olympians like Nadia Comăneci and Kerri Strug, has died at 82. USA Gymnastics announced Károlyi died on Friday, November 15, but did not specify a cause of death. Károlyi started his athletic career as a Romanian national junior boxing champion and a hammer throw competitor in the 1956 Olympics, CNN reports. At the Romania College of Physical Education, Károlyi started coaching the women’s gymnastics team, which is how he met gymnast Márta Erőss, who’d become his wife. After starting a national gymnastics school, Károlyi and his wife found Comăneci, then 6 years old. Under Károlyi’s coaching, Comăneci went on to the first perfect 10 and then six more at the 1976 Olympics when she was just 14. Károlyi defected to the United States in 1981, and shortly thereafter, he bought a private gym in Houston, Texas, dubbing the facility Károlyi’s ...