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Feel No Fear: The Power, Passion, and Politics of a Life in Gymnastics
The charismatic coach of gymnastic stars including Nadia Comanec and Mary Lou Retton chronicles his life and career, from troubles with Romanian secret police, through his decision to defect, to his fight for better gymnastics in the United States.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
211 people want to read
About the author
Bela Karolyi
5 books1 followerBéla Károlyi was a gymnastics coach and an ethnic Hungarian Romanian-American. Early in his coaching career he developed the Romanian centralized training system for gymnastics. One of his earliest protégés was Nadia Comaneci, the first Olympic Games gymnast to be awarded a perfect score. Living under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, Károlyi frequently clashed with Romanian officials. He and his wife defected to the United States in 1981.
After their arrival in the United States, Béla and his wife Márta Károlyi were credited with transforming the coaching of gymnastics in the U.S. and bringing major international success. They were each a coach for the United States women's national gymnastics team, as well as national team coordinators for United States gymnastics at the Olympic Games. They have been severely criticized for their coaching style, which many gymnasts have called abusive. They claim to have been unaware that Larry Nassar, the national gymnastics team doctor who was convicted of sexual assault of minors, was assaulting young female gymnasts in their care at their Karolyi Ranch training facility in the Sam Houston National Forest in Texas. Athlete A, a documentary about the scandal, is a 2020 film which covers the Karolyis and their ranch.
Károlyi coached many notable national, European, Olympic gymnasts as well as those from the World Gymnastics Championships including Nadia Comăneci, Ecaterina Szabo, Mary Lou Retton, Julianne McNamara, Betty Okino, Teodora Ungureanu, Kim Zmeskal, Kristie Phillips, Dominique Moceanu, Phoebe Mills, and Kerri Strug. He coached nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists, and six U.S. national champions. He was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997. Béla and Márta Károlyi as a coaching team were inducted into the US Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2000.
After their arrival in the United States, Béla and his wife Márta Károlyi were credited with transforming the coaching of gymnastics in the U.S. and bringing major international success. They were each a coach for the United States women's national gymnastics team, as well as national team coordinators for United States gymnastics at the Olympic Games. They have been severely criticized for their coaching style, which many gymnasts have called abusive. They claim to have been unaware that Larry Nassar, the national gymnastics team doctor who was convicted of sexual assault of minors, was assaulting young female gymnasts in their care at their Karolyi Ranch training facility in the Sam Houston National Forest in Texas. Athlete A, a documentary about the scandal, is a 2020 film which covers the Karolyis and their ranch.
Károlyi coached many notable national, European, Olympic gymnasts as well as those from the World Gymnastics Championships including Nadia Comăneci, Ecaterina Szabo, Mary Lou Retton, Julianne McNamara, Betty Okino, Teodora Ungureanu, Kim Zmeskal, Kristie Phillips, Dominique Moceanu, Phoebe Mills, and Kerri Strug. He coached nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists, and six U.S. national champions. He was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997. Béla and Márta Károlyi as a coaching team were inducted into the US Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2000.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 7, 2014
I grew up a gymnast. I don't ever remember loving anything more than this sport as a child. I read this book when I was 12. Not many kids are reading autobios, but I was obsessed. And Karolyi's bio didn't disappoint. To this day I still remember where he describes his bold grandmother doing a flip off a cart...I think that's how it goes. Anyway, I love the spirit in this book. His dedication came through and empowered me. I had the honor of meeting Karolyi as a child and I will always treasure that memory. This is a wonderful book for athletes and those driven to overcome anything to accomplish their goals.
May 15, 2023
I loved this book in high school, even though I caught a few parts that seemed to indicate some real egotistical madness. But as a gymnastics fan, I enjoyed the madness. But learning years later, just what an abusive maniac this man was, and how he treated Nadia and in later years, Dominique Moceanu, I can't give this book a recommendation. Or, maybe it's worth a revisit once you realize that it's full of lies. His entire tale of how he "discovered" Nadia, which he helped turn into the 1984 TV movie in the US, that we all came to love, was almost entirely lies. He was not a lovable, paternal figure. He beat and starved the gymnast and made them train through serious illnesses. The starvation included not allowing them to drink water, and caused their weight to go up and down rapidly whenever they did eat. It also, quite obviously, made them more susceptible to injuries. He was recorded by Romania's secret police as being insanely jealous of Nadia, and stole the cash prizes the girls won at competitions. Him and Marta were horrible. Read Nadia Comaneci and The Secret Police instead.
December 15, 2022
Hice gimnasia toda mi niñez y claro que soñaba con entrenar con Bela Karolyi. Leí este libro por primera vez como a los 13 años y releerlo ahora fue un viaje maravilloso. Sin duda Karolyi es un fuera de serie que llevó a dos países a ser los mejores en el deporte y eso es muy interesante. Con todos los claroscuros del personaje sin duda es alguien admirable. Es un libro directo, honesto y muy nostálgico.
November 20, 2024
This book is full of lies. He was a great storyteller but none of it is true. Nadia was already a gymnast when he supposedly discovered her. He did not work on the docks or as a fisherman or do any other hard labor in Los Angeles when he first came to the US. I recommend reading Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police and listening to the podcast Heavy Medals for actual facts.
December 30, 2019
I had this sitting on my bookshelf for years and decided to finally read it. Read it in one sitting. Very well written - it was a biography that read like a story with heartfelt frustrations for both the coach and the athletes.
March 22, 2010
Bela Karolyi’s ghosted autobiography covers his upbringing in Communist Rumania, where he coached Nadia Comaneci to Olympic Gold in gymnastics, and his defection to the US, where he successfully resumed his coaching with Mary Lou Retton.
Though it will appeal mostly to gymnastics fans, in some ways, the gymnastics in Feel No Fear feels incidental. It’s the rest of Karolyi’s story that is compelling. In particular, his account of finding himself in a new and difficult-to-navigate society where he didn’t speak the language makes for powerful reading. The gymnastics element of the book, however, never really comes to life. It’s a book about coaching in general more than about specifically coaching gymnastics, and there’s a strong sense that Karolyi would have been just as happy coaching a different sport.
Karolyi is not the most likeable of narrators. There’s one moment early in the book when he appeals to a classmate for extensive help when trying to gain entrance to university. She helps Karolyi with his entrance exams and, as a result, he gets in – and she doesn’t. Karolyi’s sweeping arrogance is sometimes too much to take. However, the book does go a long way to adding nuance to a man who is viewed as the stereotypical Soviet tyrant coach.
The views on coaching that Karolyi outlines in Feel No Fear are broadly admirable. However, there’s some notable white space that remains around his interactions with some American gymnasts. There are those he gushes about – Mary Lou Retton, Kim Zmeskal – and those where his silence is deafening. Quite often the words, “[X:] did not compete in this meet, because of an injury” appear in the book and never, ever elaborated upon. It’s hard not to feel that the rigours of gymnastics on young bodies are being glossed over. There’s also a particularly shocking section where Nadia – who has been training elsewhere and is out of shape – loses 40lbs in a matter of weeks under Karolyi’s instruction.
Feel No Fear is an entertaining read about a man who has lived an interesting life. However, I suspect I will find it fairly forgettable – and I’m not surprised it’s drifted out of print.
(Note: though the cover of my copy features Dominique Moceanu, the book was written in 1994 and has no mention of her. This is mildly frustrating, since the book also does not cover Karolyi’s most infamous moment – telling Kerri Strug to perform her second vault at the 1996 Olympics.)
Though it will appeal mostly to gymnastics fans, in some ways, the gymnastics in Feel No Fear feels incidental. It’s the rest of Karolyi’s story that is compelling. In particular, his account of finding himself in a new and difficult-to-navigate society where he didn’t speak the language makes for powerful reading. The gymnastics element of the book, however, never really comes to life. It’s a book about coaching in general more than about specifically coaching gymnastics, and there’s a strong sense that Karolyi would have been just as happy coaching a different sport.
Karolyi is not the most likeable of narrators. There’s one moment early in the book when he appeals to a classmate for extensive help when trying to gain entrance to university. She helps Karolyi with his entrance exams and, as a result, he gets in – and she doesn’t. Karolyi’s sweeping arrogance is sometimes too much to take. However, the book does go a long way to adding nuance to a man who is viewed as the stereotypical Soviet tyrant coach.
The views on coaching that Karolyi outlines in Feel No Fear are broadly admirable. However, there’s some notable white space that remains around his interactions with some American gymnasts. There are those he gushes about – Mary Lou Retton, Kim Zmeskal – and those where his silence is deafening. Quite often the words, “[X:] did not compete in this meet, because of an injury” appear in the book and never, ever elaborated upon. It’s hard not to feel that the rigours of gymnastics on young bodies are being glossed over. There’s also a particularly shocking section where Nadia – who has been training elsewhere and is out of shape – loses 40lbs in a matter of weeks under Karolyi’s instruction.
Feel No Fear is an entertaining read about a man who has lived an interesting life. However, I suspect I will find it fairly forgettable – and I’m not surprised it’s drifted out of print.
(Note: though the cover of my copy features Dominique Moceanu, the book was written in 1994 and has no mention of her. This is mildly frustrating, since the book also does not cover Karolyi’s most infamous moment – telling Kerri Strug to perform her second vault at the 1996 Olympics.)
June 17, 2012
I have to admit that I am a skeptic when it comes to Bela Karolyi. I didn't expect a lot of truth to be found in his autobiography and after reading the book, I continue to believe that at best much of what it contains are half-truths about his coaching career. Bela excels at spinning a good yarn and his charisma and energy are unquestionable. His autobiography is very readable and the first half is quite interesting. However, Bela's claims of injustice and unfairness increase steadily as the book goes on and become tiresome.
Interestingly, this book was written during the period when Bela briefly retired and withdrew from the realm of competitive gymnastics coaching. The irony of this book is that since the publishing of this book, Bela and Marta have managed to one-up all those that Bela criticizes in his biography. In the latter part of the book, Bela talks about the strategic tactics involved in winning competitions with order of gymnasts and score elevations that occur throughout meets. Thus, it's not always the best gymnasts that receive the highest scores. Unfortunately, USA gymnastics is now quite expert at strategic manipulations. Bela and Marta Karolyi have come to control USA Gymnastics in much the same way that gymnastics were controlled in his native Romania. The Karolyi's have become experts at politicking and manipulation and they have almost total control over the gymnasts who end up competing in the major national and international events. While Bela was very critical of USA Gymnastics in this biography, he and Marta are now very closely aligned with the head of USA Gymnastics. His results have given power and Bela knows what it takes to produce winning gymnasts. In the end, Bela and Marta essentially took the lessons they learned in Romania and have now succeeded in playing the Romanian gymnastics political game even better than the Romanian's did. You'll find none of this in Bela's autobiography but you will learn a lot about the system that cultivated our current gymnastics system. If you want a good counterpoint to Bela's autobiography and another version of the truth about Bela's life, consider reading some of the autobiographies of his former gymnasts including Dominique Moceanu, or a book like Little Girls in Pretty Boxes.
Interestingly, this book was written during the period when Bela briefly retired and withdrew from the realm of competitive gymnastics coaching. The irony of this book is that since the publishing of this book, Bela and Marta have managed to one-up all those that Bela criticizes in his biography. In the latter part of the book, Bela talks about the strategic tactics involved in winning competitions with order of gymnasts and score elevations that occur throughout meets. Thus, it's not always the best gymnasts that receive the highest scores. Unfortunately, USA gymnastics is now quite expert at strategic manipulations. Bela and Marta Karolyi have come to control USA Gymnastics in much the same way that gymnastics were controlled in his native Romania. The Karolyi's have become experts at politicking and manipulation and they have almost total control over the gymnasts who end up competing in the major national and international events. While Bela was very critical of USA Gymnastics in this biography, he and Marta are now very closely aligned with the head of USA Gymnastics. His results have given power and Bela knows what it takes to produce winning gymnasts. In the end, Bela and Marta essentially took the lessons they learned in Romania and have now succeeded in playing the Romanian gymnastics political game even better than the Romanian's did. You'll find none of this in Bela's autobiography but you will learn a lot about the system that cultivated our current gymnastics system. If you want a good counterpoint to Bela's autobiography and another version of the truth about Bela's life, consider reading some of the autobiographies of his former gymnasts including Dominique Moceanu, or a book like Little Girls in Pretty Boxes.
August 12, 2012
I enjoyed this book and learning how Bela Karolyi ended up coaching gymnastics and then how he managed to become a great coach in this country. It really surprised me with what he and Marta went through and how he got where he is today. I found this book to be a quick, easy read and it highlighted a little on his "famous" gymnasts as well, but most the focus was on him and what he did to get where he is. Very enlightening story. For any Mary Lou Retton Fan or any gymnastic fan, you will enjoy this!
February 23, 2016
V podstate ide o biografiu Karolyiho. Kniha vzdava poctu jeho zivotu, neunavnemu boju proti byrokracii v Rumunsku i neskor v USA po emigracii, ale hlavne tym dievcatam, co vedeli vypustit dusu na treningu i v sutazi. Staru story o Kerri Strugg a jej druhom preskoku s vytknutym/zlomenym clenkom, ktorym zabezpecila USA dievcatam zlate medaile uz hadam ani netreba pripominat.
A hoci Bela isto nie je len pozitivnym clovekom, tak sa mu neda upriet, ze vedel ako na to a za svoje zverenkyne bol ochotny sa bit i vzdavat sa uctyhodnych postov... a nikdy nedrzal hubu a krok.
A hoci Bela isto nie je len pozitivnym clovekom, tak sa mu neda upriet, ze vedel ako na to a za svoje zverenkyne bol ochotny sa bit i vzdavat sa uctyhodnych postov... a nikdy nedrzal hubu a krok.
June 5, 2007
I read this at the height of my gymnastics obsession, but it's still a decent book
March 25, 2008
Good when I was 16, probably wouldn't like it now. . .
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews