Who Is the Crazy, Muttering Romanian Dude on NBC?

[lannamavity]

Why?

Does anyone understand him? Was anyone else driven to try using closed-captioning tonight?

[MdGymMom01]

That's Bela Karolyi!!! He used to coach a LOT of Olympians--Nadia, Mary Lou Retton, Kim Zmeskal and a slew of others. He's amazing!!!! His wife Marta is the coach of the women now.

[gymdog]

I think lanna was being kind of...sarcastic.

Also his opinions yesterday were pretty, um, worthless. He either confirmed really obvious things in a way over-excited tone, or he named off random names that weren't even in context for the question reasonably. Who has a chance for the last spot on the team? "Jana Bieger! Samantha Pesczek! Ivana Hong!...um...um...let me tell you! Chelsea Davis!" That was really random. I wasn't sure whether he was trying to spontaneously start another conversation and they just nipped that in the bud, or what.

[bogwoppit]

Drove me nuts too, what a waste of money! Paying somebody for commentary who cannot even be understood.

Though I do believe he has lived in the US for over 20 years, maybe that accent is an affectation.

Considering he is not allowed to coach anymore, I find it hard to believe that he is paid for his opinion.

[gymjourneymom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by bogwoppit Drove me nuts too, what a waste of money! Paying somebody for commentary who cannot even be understood. Though I do believe he has lived in the US for over 20 years, maybe that accent is an affectation. Considering he is not allowed to coach anymore, I find it hard to believe that he is paid for his opinion.

How come Bela isn't allowed to coach anymore?????

[MdGymMom01]

LOL--yeah, poor guy. I'm not sure why he isn't allowed to coach either. Any insight on this???
This is kinda random, but has anyone heard the stand up routine from Jon Stewart (I think) about the olympics one year when Bela was coaching...he kept saying "You can do eet!" "I can't do it, but you can do eet!!!". "I don't know about you but when I crack my head on a piece of wood (like the beam) I don't "just go right into my dismount". LMAO
I'll have to find that clip on youtube--It was really funny...

[bogwoppit]

Béla Károlyi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is what wiki has to say about him, not sure what the whole deal really is.

I am sure some of our more experienced American coaches can weigh in on the issue.

He should get some elocution lessons. I hope my French accent is better than his English one!

[Metgrrl]

Boy, he was excited about the whole night! I watched both girls nights on my DVR, and I just skipped Bela. Although watching the person stuck with him, trying so hard not to laugh was great. And I don't think Bela caught on he was making fun of him. I have great respect for him, but I don't understand what NBC thought he would bring to the table.

[lannamavity]

Yeah...it's not just the accent. I have friends who are also Hungarian/Romanian and came to the US decades later and still speak more clearly. Maybe he's mixing all of his languages together.

After the 2000 Olympics, it became pretty obvious something needed to change...and I think by the time of Jaimie Dantzcher's well-publicized rant about Bela, he was done.

I think he's great for the sport, and kids get so excited when he is around.

But not for commentary. Poor Bob Costas (who is pretty worthless at a gymnastics meet) looked like he was in pain sitting there next to him.

[gracefulone]

I thought he was hilarious! I admit he was a bit tricky to comprehend, but not too bad in my opinion. He was so exuberant-I loved it! He plugged Chellsie Memmel about a million times.