Head
Strong: Karolyi says China will be playing games
6.22.08
Bela Karolyi
has good reason to be concerned about the members of his U.S. women's
gymnastics team who emerge victorious at tonight's Olympic trials finals en
route to China.
In
1981, Karolyi, already the world's most successful
gymnastics coach, was wandering the streets of New York. Shadowing him were
dispatches from the Romanian government's secret police, which kept tabs on
where he went, what he did, how he behaved away from home.
Karolyi had already coached Nadia Comaneci to
seven perfect 10.0 scores in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal - no athlete had
recorded even one perfect 10 in modern Olympic history - a feat that would help
her earn three gold medals during those games.
But
through the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and a 1981 exhibition tour here in the
United States, Karolyi had publicly feuded with
officials from his home country. In Moscow, he had openly opined that his
athletes had been cheated - a public slap in the face for Russian officials
already angered by the U.S. boycott. Tensions became so pronounced that by
1981, Karolyi, his wife, Marta, and an assistant
coach felt pressured to make a potentially life-altering choice: either stay in
the United States or retreat to the umbrella of an oppressive, socialist
Romanian regime to face the consequences of his perceived defiance.
The
trio decided to hold onto their one suitcase and seek political asylum in
America; for the Karolyis this meant leaving behind a
7-year-old daughter in Romania.
So
there in New York in 1981, Karolyi stopped the first
police officer he saw and asked for directions to the immigration office.
Though he spoke six languages, the coach spoke no English - a problem, because
that's the only language the cop could understand.
Karolyi used hand signals and broken English
to explain his desire to defect.
"For
the average person in Manhattan, we were nobodies," he recently told me.
It's
an amazing story, and one I was fortunate to hear in the weeks leading up to
tonight's finals at the Wachovia Center.
Karolyi told me he often thinks of his past
living in a socialist country under Soviet watch as he prepares U.S. athletes
to compete in China. He told me he's "very concerned" that U.S.
athletes - and even U.S. Olympic Committee officials - don't understand the
gravity of what he experienced in 1980 in Moscow.
"Definitely
I'm worried," he said. "Maybe a few people might remember what
happened in Moscow. And that's going to happen exactly in China. Just face it:
China is a communist-run government. They're investing millions and billions of
dollars in order to have Olympic Games on their field. Now, don't you think
they want to take full advantage of it? Sure! This is a tremendous propaganda
tool . . ."
And
it's not just the constant surveillance the athletes and visitors will
encounter in a hostile athletic and cultural environment. Karolyi
discussed with me the "brutal" desire for victory that communist
regimes cultivate. He foresees a deck stacked against the athletes he's
coaching - one that will give every chance for "the big communist
sweep" that Chinese officials dream will aid their public relations
effort.
"And
I'm making sure that, every time, I remind our athletes that we have to go in
there and the game is going to be different. There are going to be people who
will not cheer for you, people that will not praise your performance and won't
appreciate your performance. Maybe they are going to boo you,
maybe they are going to have a silence on your great performances when you wait
for a tremendous break of the joy and excitement.
"So
you just face it. You focus on your own performance. Block out everything else.
You've got to block it out. You and your performance and your mind are a united
effort. Just get to your fellow teammate and hug and show appreciation of their
performance between you guys. . . . You're going to be on your own little
war."
Tough
words for the petite athletes Karolyi has been
mentoring for more than 40 years now. Most of them are teenagers, young enough
to be granddaughters of the fiercely confident coach training them.
But good advice from a man who stood up to
his own communist demons almost three decades ago. A man who defected
to this country and actually found the streets paved with (Olympic) gold.
Bela Karolyi
talks to Michael Smerconish about competing in China
and defecting to the U.S. at http://go.philly.com/belakarolyi
Michael Smerconish's column appears on Thursdays in The Daily News and on Sundays in Currents. He can be heard
from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays on "The Big Talker," WPHT-AM (1210).
Contact him via the Web at http://www.mastalk.com.