
Bela Karolyi
Coach of Gold-Medal Winning U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team. NBC's Olympic Correspondent
Bela Karolyi reprises his role as a primetime correspondent for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. He worked in the same capacity with NBC Olympics at the 2012 London Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics. A gymnastics coaching legend, Karolyi is one of the most recognized personalities in the sport and has trained world-renowned gymnasts for numerous…
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Full Bio
Bela Karolyi reprises his role as a primetime correspondent for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. He worked in the same capacity with NBC Olympics at the 2012 London Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
A gymnastics coaching legend, Karolyi is one of the most recognized personalities in the sport and has trained world-renowned gymnasts for numerous Olympics. Karolyi began his illustrious career coaching for the Romanian national team starting in the early 1960’s, bringing the Romanian women’s gymnastics team into the international spotlight. On his team was Nadia Comaneci, a young gymnast who astounded the world by achieving the first perfect scores at the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976.
In 1981, he brought the Romanian team to the United States for an exhibition tour, but decided to remain in the United States and requested political asylum. With Karolyi coaching in the United States, the American gymnastics program began to reflect his dynamic approach. Karolyi coached four U.S. Olympic teams from 1984 to 1996 and served as the national team coordinator for the 2000 USA Olympic Gymnastics Team In 1996, Karolyi’s “magnificent seven,” captured the Olympic gold in the Women’s Team Competition in a dynamic, captivating and dramatic final. Through a courageous final performance, Kerri Strug, though injured, still performed a vault and anchored the gold for Team USA.
In 1997, Karolyi was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame and Texas Sports Hall of Fame. In addition to coaching, Karolyi co-authored Mary Lou: Creating an Olympic Champion, with John Powers and Mary Lou Retton in 1984. Ten years later, Karolyi wrote a personal memoir, Feel No Fear: the Power, Passion, and Politics of a Life in Gymnastics with Nancy Ann Richardson.
Karolyi and his wife Martha reside at their 2,000-acre ranch outside of Houston, where they have trained over 3,000 gymnasts at their famous Karolyi’s Gymnastics Summer Camp.
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LITTLE RIVER BAND OF OTTAWA INDIANS
Our speaker was great and the crowd enjoyed her! She was very engaging. Thank you again PDA for the great list of suggestions!

MEDTRONIC
Everything went great! and our speaker was wonderful! Thank you so much for all your help PDA! Looking forward to the next one.

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI – KANSAS CITY
I hope that this message finds you well. We had a phenomenal time with Atsuko this past Thursday. We wanted to just let you know how amazing she was. All those that were in attendance thoroughly enjoyed her and had nothing but amazing things to say about her. Thank you for working with us to make sure this happened!

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
We had a fantastic day with Inge! She was very engaging with all those that attended. Her personal stories about the holocaust were very special and we were moved that she was willing to share them with everyone. Thank you again, PDA for all your hard work and dedication to make this program such a success!

SALT LAKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Dear PDA Group, Thank you so much for your hard work in scheduling our speaker! From the moment we reached out to you the first time, you worked with us on all details and logistics and kept us up-to-date on the progress. Thank you for all your hard work on making our event such a success! We couldn't have done it without you and your team!

SAP COMPANY
Thank you again, Dr. Kimbrough, for a great presentation, our attendees are still talking about it!

CAMPUS LABS
Dr. Henry Lee's presentation was entertaining, insightful and wise. I, and everyone at Pfizer, especially appreciate the remarks you directed about following your passion and preparing yourself to excel. Thank you, everyone, at PDA for helping to make this happen!

PFIZER
The event was successful! I received many messages expressing how awesome, outstanding and inspiring Ms. Webb-Christburg's speech was."

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. MEMORIAL BREAKFAST, BOSTON, MLK SPEAKER
Everything went well. Atsuko was very easy to work with and the students enjoyed her performance! Thank you again for your recommendation and I hope to work with you again in the future!

CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Dr. Novello left this morning after a very successful event on our campus! Thank you PDA Group for your help from the first phone to the last you were with us every step of the way.

GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
Jordan Carlos was very very entertaining! A majority of students who answered the event survey indicated they really enjoyed Jordan and definitely will bring him back!

WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
On behalf of myself and my organization Entertainment Unlimited the Campus Programming Board of Ferris State University, we thank you PDA and Dan for a successful event!! Dan was magnificent! Students really enjoyed the presentation. I know I did. Can't wait to bring in more programs with PDA Group.

FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY
It was a great pleasure to work with PDA Group! The communication was always prompt, friendly and helpful. We loved the speakers and events we booked through Mr. Peter Walker (PDA Group).

WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Thank you, Peter, for all your help, you'll be happy to know that the event went incredibly well! Aneesa Ferreira was by far one of the best speakers we've ever had!

FURMAN UNIVERSITY
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