Word: karolyis
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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That and her refusal to let anyone--Karolyi included--talk her out of who she is or what she wants. Last August after Moceanu finished the compulsory round of the U.S. championships in second place, she sat poker-faced at Karolyi's side as he told reporters, "I wouldn't mind if Dominique had a strong showing in optionals and finished second. It would protect her a little from the pressures of being No. 1." Asked to respond, Moceanu blurted, "I want to win!", leaving Karolyi laughing and shaking his head. After she did just that two nights later, making...
When Dominique was only 3 1/2, Dimitry called Karolyi, whom he had known in Romania before the coach's defection. "He laughed," Dimitry recalls. "He said, 'Don't bring her now. Bring her when she's nine or 10.'" Undaunted, Dimitry enrolled Dominique in a class in the Chicago area, and, as he'd hoped, she took to the sport naturally. Two months after Dominique's 10th birthday, Dimitry drove her to Houston. When Dominique saw the sign on Karolyi's gym, she squealed excitedly, "What are we doing here?" Dimitry answered, "Surprise...
...grand master was more circumspect. "She was nothing to explode in the air about," Karolyi says. Dimitry, undeterred, moved the family close to the gym. During the next 18 months, he commuted weekly to Florida to run a used-car lot. When he finally found a job in Houston, he laid down only one condition: "I have to travel for Dominique's meets...
Meanwhile, Dominique struggled to adjust to Karolyi's rigorous routine, which doubled her training hours and pitted her against his disciplined '92 Olympic hopefuls, among them world champion Kim Zmeskal. "The transition was hard," says Martha Karolyi, Bela's wife and coaching partner. "Dominique was not so focused." Dominique remembers, "I was scared. I didn't understand the meaning of seriousness and dedication." Still, when Dominique performed in her first exhibition two months later, she autographed pictures with the words Gold '96. "I said, 'Why you put that? That's not nice,'" Dimitry recalls. "And she said, 'I just feel...
Three months later, Moceanu placed a respectable, if not dazzling, fifth in the junior national all-around. With most of the attention on Zmeskal, Moceanu relaxed and enjoyed her first taste of celebrity. Approached then by TIME, the 10-year-old offered an uncensored glimpse inside Karolyi's gym: "He gets real mad. On occasion, he kicks kids out of the gym. But the worst is when he says nothing, and you don't know what's the matter." What about those famous Bela bear hugs? "He's much nicer here...