Bela Karolyi

Unable to resist the lure of Olympic competition, Karolyi returned to coach the U.S. women's team that won Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996. As the team competition came to a dramatic conclusion that summer, he swept an injured gymnast, Kerri Strug, from the floor as she completed her final vault despite a seriously sprained ankle. The gesture by the coach left onlookers with a lasting impression of his warmth and concern for his young gymnasts.

Despite intermittent controversy over his aggressive coaching style with such very young athletes, Karolyi's innovative contributions to the sport of women's gymnastics endure into the twenty-first century. On September 12, 2001, he accepted an appointment as the national coordinator for the U.S. women's gymnastics team, in preparation for the 2004 Olympics.