Word: karolyis
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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...
Then came Barcelona and Zmeskal's disappointing nonmedal finish. Convinced that Zmeskal had been robbed of glory, Karolyi announced midway through the competition that he was retiring. At the time it smacked of politics. But in fact, Karolyi meant business, and bequeathed his elite program to Martha. "We were upset," says Dimitry. "Martha said, 'Don't worry.' It was his first big defeat. Martha thought he'd come back...
Dominique, who was never told Karolyi had retired, figured he would show up one day. Meanwhile, coaches were brought in from Russia and Romania to work with her on the floor, bars and vault. But her main coach was Martha, who groomed her for what would become her strongest event, the balance beam. "I'm pretty close to Martha," says Moceanu. "When I have a problem I can talk to her. It's girl to girl. Um. Woman to woman." Moceanu giggles. "Well, kid to woman...
...Karolyi now sees value in Moceanu's '94 national victory. "Her maturity since last year has grown incredibly," he says. "Now comes the pride of being a national champion. That gives motivation to be strong, sharp, demanding." It also places a new burden on Moceanu. "You want to live up to the expectation," she says. Then again, Moceanu has lived her whole life with others' expectations: first her father's, now Karolyi's. But she prefers not to discuss the toll. "I'm aware of it, yeah," she allows. "I don't bring it up too much...