Analysis : Federation Allowing Gym Coaches to Feud Way Beyond Reason

The street fight in women’s gymnastics, as it has been frequently portrayed, pits Don Peters, coach of the Olympic team, against Bela Karolyi, coach of some famous Olympians.

But battle zone central is located in the headquarters of the U.S. Gymnastics Federation, which, by not finding a solution to a problem that should have been settled long ago, has allowed the political infighting to continue.

Although Peters is the coach, Karolyi wants to be, and he continues to tell that to anyone who will listen. Mike Jacki, the executive director of the USGF, originally backed Peters but now is publicly finding fault with the system that gave Peters the job.

Peters was elected national team coach in January by an eight-member USGF committee. That committee not only selects the coach but also determines the manner of the selection.

The committee decided to hold an impartial election. Most of the members, however, have vested interests in who the coach will be. Peters is a committee member, for instance, as are Karolyi and two other personal coaches. Several technical people who are known to wield a lot of power also are on the committee.

In any event, Peters got four votes, Karolyi three, and there was one abstention. By all normal accounts, Peters won.

Actually, though, all Peters won was the chance to defend his right to keep the job.

Karolyi and, more recently, Jacki have publicly said that they favor a performance-related method of choosing the Olympic coach, meaning that the coach who places the most gymnasts on the Olympic team should coach it. This year that coach would probably be Karoyli.

Jacki, though, says the structure of the federation cannot be changed in time for the 1988 Olympics. How’s that for a vote of confidence for Peters?

Karolyi could have three, possibly four, of the gymnasts on the Olympic women’s team. Peters may have two, probably one.

Karolyi, however, has made it clear that he’s not willing to accept any method of selection that doesn’t result in his being the coach. In 1984, Peters had five students on the Olympic team, Karolyi two. Peters was the coach. Karolyi was miserable.

Peters also served as the national coach in 1981-85.

Jacki said that another method he favors for choosing a national coach is to let the coaches whose gymnasts make the national team vote. If they all vote for themselves, Jacki said maybe they can just “draw straws.”

Hands down, Karolyi, who defected to the United States from Romania in 1981, is the best-known women’s gymnastics coach in the country. He may even be the best.

Even if he had stopped coaching after Nadia Comaneci’s success in 1976, he would still be considered one of the best. But Karolyi landed in Houston in time to put the finishing touch of gold on Mary Lou Retton, earning celebrity status in a country that craves the excitement of a superstar. At the Games in Los Angeles, Americans got a double dose.

Those who watched Retton’s moment of glory when she won the all-around gymnastics title in the 1984 Olympics may also remember a touching scene she shared with her coach.

Karolyi, seemingly caught up in the emotion of victory, jumped the press barricade and greeted Retton with a bear hug after her final vault. What most didn’t realize, however, was that Karolyi, warned the day before by the international ruling judge and U.S. gymnastics delegation to stay off the gym floor, almost cost Retton and the United States a gold medal.

Under international rules, only a country’s national coach and one assistant are allowed on the competition floor. Karolyi was a personal coach and was supposed to sit in the stands with the other personal coaches.

Instead, Jacki said, he was given a credential by an equipment company, which allowed him to sit in the press photographer’s section, where he could be closer to his gymnasts.

On the first day of competition, Karolyi jumped the barricade. He was warned that if he did it again, his competitor and the U.S. team would be penalized .30 of a point.

Karolyi, obviously, disregarded the warning. Retton, who beat the top-ranked Romanian, Ecaterina Szabo, by only .05 of a point, would have had to settle for the silver if the penalty had been applied. The speculation was that the ruling judge didn’t call the penalty for fear of inciting the home crowd.

Karolyi explained his disregard for the rule as unbridled emotion. It might very well have been rehearsed emotion.

The night before the competition, a coach and a reporter saw Karolyi practice-jumping the barricade. He jumped over the wall, then jumped back, as though he was testing the partition to be certain it was strong enough to hold his weight.

Another reporter, who was in Houston last month for the national championships, said he spent most of his time there watching Karolyi. Karolyi, he said, would watch the big screen in the arena, and whenever he saw one of his gymnasts on camera he was there to hug her as she finished her routine.

“This guy Karolyi was incredible,” said the reporter, who asked not to be identified because he has to deal with Karolyi. “He would be on one side of the mat and he would sprint, and I mean sprint, all the way across the floor to be there to hug his gymnast. Half the time he didn’t even know what he was supporting--they could have fallen off the beam and he wouldn’t have even known it. If I would have been on camera, he would have hugged me.

“I saw Don Peters that night and I told him, ‘Man, we’ve got to get you some PR. You’ve got to get with it. You’re the United States coach and this guy is stealing the show.’ ”

Karolyi’s grandstand plays are exactly what prompt the other coaches to say that he puts his own interests before the national team’s. The other coaches don’t trust him and don’t want their prize students under his care.

They say that he won’t field a fair lineup but instead will give the later positions to his gymnasts so they will score better. Judges usually give higher marks to gymnasts who perform later in the program.

In Karolyi’s defense, his desire to win may very well override his obsession with his own gymnasts, but the other coaches don’t want to take that chance.

And now, a pouting Karolyi says he is not going to Seoul because he is neither the national team coach nor an assistant.

“The girls will still perform well without me, but the results won’t be as good as if I were there (on the floor) with them,” he said.

Marta Karolyi, Bela’s wife, is one of the best balance beam coaches in the country and will be at Peters’ side at the Olympics. Peters chose her as his assistant. But Karolyi said that even with Marta there, his girls need him.

This recent power-play attempt by Karolyi underscored his apparently selfish attitude, and strengthened the distrust of other coaches.

Over the last year, Karolyi’s staged boycotts have become common. Karolyi was a last-second no-show at the 1987 Pan Am Games. When he failed to show at the airport, the U.S. delegation called him in Houston. Karolyi told them that he had fallen off a horse and hurt his ribs. But he told reporters that he was boycotting because he couldn’t be on the floor with his gymnasts.

Then, he was a holdout at the World Championship games in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, again citing his displeasure with the system. Now, he is passing on Seoul, unless he can be convinced that he is “wanted.”

During the national meet in Houston last month, Karolyi resigned as “head of the Seoul delegation” when another coach questioned his appointment and duties. Still, the question has merit.

Why would USGF officials reward Karolyi by appointing him head of the delegation in March, when, in the previous year, he had repeatedly acted in the best interest of Karolyi and not the national team?

Jacki said that by appointing Karolyi to the position, he thought he would have a better chance to hold Karolyi accountable for his actions at Seoul.

“It’s a written contract,” Jacki said.

But Jacki never received the signed contract from Karolyi.

In 1984, Peters, faced with a possible Karolyi explosion, made Karolyi his second assistant coach, allowing him to participate only in the practice sessions before the Olympic competition. Peters said he did that because the USGF had failed to take a stand. It was a highly uncomfortable situation for both coaches, neither of whom considers himself an assistant.

USGF officials, who have had at least four years to solve the problem, are once again treating the public to a lesson in how to handle a crisis. They are abstaining.