“They want to do really well in his eyes. I mean he’s like God almost,” joked Olympic medalist Kim Zmeskal’s mother Gracie Zemskal during a 1990 interview. Kim Zmeskal, who had already been training at Bela Karolyi’s gym in Texas, earned Olympic bronze in 1992. And it was her mother’s statement ahead of the 1990 U.S. Championships that captured Karolyi’s influence on his pupils.

Bela Karolyi who came to prominence as Nadia Comaneci’s coach, the first Olympic gymnast to earn a perfect 10, passed away on Friday. “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Bela on November 15… Bela touched and impacted many people’s lives and he will be sadly missed.” wrote the Karolyi family, according to a report by GymCastic.

Team USA officially confirmed the news a short while later. Yet, despite coaching Olympic legends such as Nomaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strug, and several other Hall of Famers, the Romanian has left behind a complicated legacy. Throughout the years, many gymnasts have come forward and claimed the late coach’s methods to be too extreme. The throwback clip from 1990 gives a closer look at the uncompromising vision of Bela Karolyi.

“You have to have a total dedication, you have to stand out you have to be focused, you have to put some sacrifices… Nothing in the world can get without sacrifices, especially when you want to get something which is the best in the world. You have to put the most out of you, more than anybody else that’s the name of the game.” Karolyi said in the clip on Kentiemac Gymnastics YouTube Channel.

Karolyi expected his gymnasts to train as if they were on the competition floor. The 1990 interview revealed that the coach didn’t surprise his pupils with new skills. However, training consisted of a relentless cycle of consistent repetition. Those who trained under Nadia Comaneci’s former coach toiled for eight hours in the gymnasium in two separate four-hour shifts. Karolyi’s complicated legacy once again became apparent when his former pupils paid tribute to the late gymnastics coach.

How Bela Karolyi’s methods left a lasting impact on the champion he trained

“He is very intense with the kids and he wants them to be perfect all the time,” said Gracie Zemskal. However, for 1996 Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceneau, the intensity often felt too much. Bidding farewell to her former coach in her Instagram story, Moceneau explained the hurdles she had to surpass to earn Olympic glory under Karolyi.

“Anyone who has followed my story knows that my journey under Bela’s guidance as my coach came with immense challenges. His harsh words and critical demeanor often weighed heavily on me,” Moceneau wrote in their story. In 2021, the 43-year-old gymnast recalled how she competed in the Olympics with an untreated tibial fracture.

However, not everyone though Bela Karolyi deserves to be remembered as a coach who disregards his athlete in pursuit of Olympic glory.

“Bela is a very tough coach, and he gets criticism for that. But that’s what it takes to become a champion. I don’t think it’s really right that everyone tries to find the faults of Bela.” said Olympic champion Kerri Strug.

The legendary coach himself never apologized for his methods. “My attitude … is never to be satisfied… Never enough, never,” the legendary gymnastics coach told Texas Monthly in 1991. Yet no matter how polarizing, Bela Karolyi’s influence will live on forever in U.S. gymnastics history.