Bela Karolyi Quotations

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

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

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

My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The Olympics shows the community what gymnastics is all about.

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

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.

This team just wasn't good enough today, but they had the unity I always wanted. To have an American team like this has always been a dream of mine.

No competition, no progress.

You have to have competent people evaluating the athlete, not the housewives!

I believe in playing with your heart, with every fiber in your body-fairly, squarely, by the rules-to win. And I believe that any man's finest moment, the greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out and lies exhausted on the floor of battle-victorious.

Success depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice, how much you are willing to alter your everyday life for a particular goal.

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.

She has a great perspective. She's young. She's only 14 years old. You can imagine for how many more years she can represent the United States, and how many great victories she can obtain in international competition. We're looking to see her in many years from now on.

I think the ones who are involved in this part of the gymnastic activity in this part of the country are surely deserving of all the congratulations. I hope that in a few years this program will be at the top of whole country.

You are already winners every time you step into this gym. And, parents, you are to be congratulated.

It was a march of triumph since 2000,

They have to have a home, something they can be proud of. They have to have somewhere they can say, 'I'm going to the ranch. I'm going to the temple of gymnastics. I'm going to show my stuff. I'm going to be selected.'

I know that this is the greatest promotion besides the Olympic games that we can give to the country. These towns are going crazy to see these Olympic champions live.

I am very impressed with what I have seen here. I could not imagine arriving in northwest Arkansas to see a facility with the magnitude, with the beauty, and with the arrangement of whatever is in there that goes beyond the imagination.