Karolyi May Help U.S. Team in ’88 : Citizenship Rules Don’t Apply to Coaches, USOC Claims

The United States Gymnastics Federation has received a clarification from the United States Olympic Committee that would allow Romanian defector Bela Karolyi to coach the U.S. team in the 1988 Summer Olympics even if he does not become an American citizen.

Mike Jacki, the USGF’s executive director, said that federation officials had assumed that coaches must be American citizens to participate for the U.S. in the Olympics. That is the rule for athletes.

Karolyi is one of the world’s most successful coaches of women gymnasts, having tutored Nadia Comaneci for the 1976 and 1980 Olympics before he left Romania in 1981, and Mary Lou Retton for the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Idaho Sen. Jim McClure introduced legislation recently that would enable Karolyi to obtain his citizenship before the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul.

But Jacki said that the USOC had informed the gymnastics federation that the legislation would not be necessary for Karoyli to coach the U.S. team.

“Relative to the Olympic Committee position, the rules do not restrict anyone,” Jacki said. “Our coach could be a citizen of the Soviet Union.”

Asked if the gymnastics federation had a more restrictive rule, Jacki said: “According to the Amateur Sports Act, the federations can’t have any rules that are more restrictive than the USOC rules. The USOC rules are rules that will be followed.”

Jacki said Karolyi also will be eligible to coach U.S. teams in this summer’s Pan American Games in Indianapolis and the World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The U.S. coaches will be selected at the national championships in June.

The U.S. Olympic coaches will be selected next summer.

Jacki said that even if Karolyi is not selected as head coach for the women’s team, he probably will be involved because of a new International Gymnastics Federation rule that allows nations to designate more than two coaches.

“We can credential as many coaches as we have athletes,” Jacki said. “We’ve changed our philosophy so that we can keep the personal coaches involved.

“Some of the coaches found it hard to take when an athlete they had been coaching for five, six or seven years made it to the Olympics and (the coaches) couldn’t be there for the moment of glory. So we’ll have them involved.

“Of course, they can’t all be on the floor at the same time.”

Jacki said the head coach probably will be the person who has the most gymnasts selected to the national team. Karolyi, who operates a gym in Houston, coaches two of the nation’s best gymnasts, Kristie Phillips and Phoebe Mills.

“The head coach is still an important position,” Jacki said. “He’s on the floor for the team competition. The kids have to work together. Camaraderie is critical.”

Even though Karolyi is not prohibited from coaching the national team, Jacki said the USGF will encourage him to continue working toward his citizenship.

“Even if he becomes a citizen, we don’t know whether he can get a visa in some Eastern Bloc countries,” Jacki said.

“When the 1983 World Championships were in Budapest, I’m not sure Bela could have gotten into the country. The 1991 Pan Am Games are in Cuba. If Bela’s going to be involved in coaching our teams, we don’t want to have a problem getting him into countries. We’ll be able to make a much stronger case for him if he’s a citizen.”

The gymnastics federation was once denied visas to the Soviet Union for its Soviet-born rhythmic gymnasts and coach, Alla Svirsky of Los Angeles, even though they are U.S. citizens. They did not receive visas for the Goodwill Games in Moscow last summer until the day before they were supposed to leave the United States.