The Karolyi Ranch was Sold

[GymnasticsDVM]

I don’t know why he did what he did, but his statements were reported to Romania’s Secret Police. Make of that what you will. I think negligence over the years, communist culture, (and lack of wanting to disrupt the status quo) is why nothing has been done with respect to the Karolyis.

 

[MaryClare]

But he worked with them in the US when he was free to do whatever he wanted

 

[GymnasticsDVM]

So what are you trying to say – that people made up abuse stories from the Karolyis? They didn’t just come from Geza. Who knows why he stayed with them – they all defected, to a foreign country, where none of them spoke the language. Maybe he felt somewhat comfortable around them, and they seemed to at least “tone it down” (somewhat) when coaching American athletes (i.e., not striking them in the face, from what I can recall hearing, etc).

 

[MaryClare]

No. I completely believe the stories about them. But Geza stayed silent for a very, very long time and continued to work with them. In my view he’s complicit and trying to escape any blame

 

[GymnasticsDVM]

Possibly. I commend him on at least speaking out, though, and condemning the Karolyis. I will have to go looking for any stories his former Romanian athletes have about him. Can’t recall anyone discussing that he hit them, at the moment.

 

[Milgymfam]

My daughter was coached by Geza here in the US. Not sure if he changed or whatnot, but he was a good, solid, and kind coach to her. She’s had abuse before landing with him and it was such a night and day situation. I guess we always thought that he tried to break ranks and nothing was done, so he figured he had no power for change on the Karolyi level.

 

[GymnasticsDVM]

I know he has said some things that I do not agree with at all, but I always got the sense that he was certainly the better person of the Karolyi group.

 

[Caligym]

I don’t know any intracacies of the Geza/Karoylis siutuation, but the choreography he had inflicted upon the age group athletes in my area is borderline abusive.

 

[Milgymfam]

Awe. His floor routine for my daughter was her favorite of all of her time in gymnastics- it was the only one that took her personality into account, and the only one where she was listened to. When she got to her college club team and had full control over everything she went right back to it. I agree I’ve seen some iffy and some… interesting… ones on YouTube though.

 

[Caligym]

I watched a kid do high knee kicks in a corner for 10 seconds before her next pass, very Geza to “just prance,prance,prance”. But I can absolutely believe an athlete appreciating their time with him and valuing a coach/choreographer who who made them feel seen and heard. I know that is not the case with all age group choreographers.

 

[onodian]

Omg this is such a great idea, doug imma need your full name to start the lawsuit against you

 

[JaJa]

Omg this is such a great idea, doug imma need your full name to start the lawsuit against you

I already drafted the complaint.

 

[Puffin]

I don’t know any intracacies of the Geza/Karoylis siutuation, but the choreography he had inflicted upon the age group athletes in my area is borderline abusive.

His routines at 1978 Worlds were a crime against gymnastics - even poor Nadia failed to escape

 

[onodian]

Sometimes we do get carried away by nostalgia when we say older times were better

 

[RedBirdie]

Geza has choreographed some good routines. And then there is pretty much everything he did for the Karolyis.

 

[Dex]

Hypocrite this guy… now he says he saw it, he also did not do shit to stop it, in Romania and in the US….

 

[onodian]

Hypocrite this guy… now he says he saw it, he also did not do shit to stop it, in Romania and in the US….

Maybe he was trying to warn us all along with those horrible choreographies.

 

[JaJa]

Hypocrite this guy… now he says he saw it, he also did not do shit to stop it, in Romania and in the US….

Did you see the movie Spotlight? It was a fictionalized account of the breaking of the Catholic Church Sex Abuse scandal by the Boston Globe back in 2001. The Investigative Journalist Team called “Spotlight” in the Boston Globe slowly starts investigating priests accused of child sex abuse in the Boston Archdiocese and realizes it is not only very wide spread but that the hierarchy has been covering it up for years. They did excellent investigative and journalistic work , broke the story and the whole thing took off from there. In the penultimate scene in the movie, the team is sitting in Marty Baron’s (he was the new Editor in Chief of the Globe who had encouraged this investigation) office the day before the coverage is going to hit the paper and they start musing “how could this have gone on for so long undiscovered?” And one by one they all realize that they were themselves complicit with coverups on some level. One of them had gotten tips about the whole thing years before and just sort of buried it. Moreover, they were all Irish Catholics raised in the Church. Speaking as one myself we ALL knew on some level this was going on and was rampant. Its human nature. You look away. You pretend everything is normal. Marty Baron says (and I suspect these were his real words) “Most of the time we are all just stumbling around in the dark. Then someone throws a lightswitch on and there is plenty of blame to go around. You all did some excellent work here”

 

[MaryClare]

But I don’t think this is what Geza is saying. He’s staying that he did know that something was wrong and that he’d witnessed behaviour that he considered abusive and unacceptable. That isn’t stumbling around in the dark.

 

[JaJa]

Marty Baron meant that morally we spend much of our time stumbling around in the dark. We see things we know very well are wrong and we do not confront them directly for all kinds of reasons.