Bela Karolyi's Quotes

Genetics is all about showcasing human beauty along with high-quality performance.

I am very familiar with Hungary, because I grew up in Romania, which borders it.

I consider myself very lucky that I could live my life through all the ups and downs.

I know gymnastics. It's always been a subjective appreciation.

I would love very much to win a medal at the Olympics for myself, by my own performance. But that will never happen.

I'm tired of being hunted all over. I can't go anywhere without criticism.

Just like an animal, when you want to survive, you don't think anymore.

My gymnasts are always the best-prepared in the world. And they win. In the end, that's what matters.

The crowd sometimes plays a tremendous role to give you wings and carry you to victory.

The Olympics shows the community what gymnastics is all about.

The rest of the world laughed at American gymnastics before I came.

What is a better way to prove that your methods work than by winning? I have proved that my methods work.

What is the cruelest thing you can do to someone who is trying to concentrate? Call their name.

A good 80 percent of the vault is still physical and another percentage of it, 20, 25 percent is mental. Mental is always the mental strength, the confidence building up to that contest or repetition, practice, practice, and practice.

Back in Romania, always I was struggling to compete with Vladislav Rastorotsky, the great Russian coach of Lyudmila Turishcheva. He was a powerful coach, internationally. I took him like the major challenge of my life, and pretty soon I'm beating him and we are pushing each other so hard, so fierce. But out of the arena, we are friends.

I still love to find and develop the young athletes in traditional ways. I like to watch the physical and mental growth. That has always been very exciting.

In gymnastics, smaller will always be better in many ways. The stress in the head, that will be the same for all. But the stress on the body and the concussions it must endure, that will always be easier for the little ones.

The ideal gymnast would be between 4 feet 7 and 5-2. I wouldn't be able to pinpoint an ideal height, however. It would be foolish to say that a gymnast above 5-2 could not be great.

What makes the vault so spectacular is because it's a very athletic type of event, where it needs a lot of speed, a lot of explosive action and, of course, great coordination.

This is a gift that God has given me. I'm not smart enough to write for everybody, but it's the love in these books that comes from Him and goes out to my reading audience. I'm forever grateful for that. It's a privilege.

Well, I think some people are very happy in retirement. And in a year and a half I'm going to see how happy I feel in retirement. I'm just going to not work quite so hard, but I'll continue to write as long as God gives me breath.

When I open many books, or most leading women's magazines, or see almost all TV shows, I don't find myself at all. I am completely anonymous. My value system is not there.

So many people don't know that God loves them. They feel, 'Why would God love me? Why would He be interested in me?'

Food is a great way of communicating.

There's nothing trite about being consoled in a world that does everything in its power to deliver sorrow.

Cynics will say there are no good people out there. And if you read the papers and watch TV news you could be convinced of that. But there are good people.