Bela Karolyi, who coached gymnasts with his wife, Martha, for 30-plus years, including Olympic all-around gold medalists Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton, and whose training methods some pupils said went too far, died Friday at age 82, according to USA Gymnastics.

Karolyi was born in what is now Romania in 1942, and rose quickly through the Romanian dictatorship's coaching ranks. In 1976, he coached Nadia Comaneci to three gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Montreal; five years later, he defected from Romania to the United States.