Upcoming retirement won't impact Karolyis' ranch operations

INDIANAPOLIS - Martha Karolyi insists on taking things one step at a time, so first she will focus on the International Gymnastics Federation world championships in late October. Then she will turn her attention to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Then, and only then, with her retirement as USA Gymnastics' national women's team coordinator, will Karolyi contemplate life after five decades immersed in the sport alongside her husband, Bela.

"I love the sport," she said during interviews prior to this weekend's national championships at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. "(Retirement) probably will be hard."

Practically speaking, of course, it will be impossible for Karolyi, 72, to disappear from the scene, since the nation's best female gymnasts come to her each month for a training camp at the Karolyis' ranch in the Sam Houston National Forest near New Waverly.

USA Gymnastics has signed a long-term lease with the Karolyis for use of the ranch as the women's national training center. It also is one of a handful of sites designated as an Olympic training center by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"That means something," said Steve Penny, the president of USA Gymnastics. "It's not just a facility. It's not just a gym. It's ours.

"When you look at all of the athletes and all the success that has come from there, especially over the last 15 years, it's definitely a part of our DNA."

The Karolyis have funded most of the gym construction at the ranch, but the federation has contributed as well, Penny said. USA Gymnastics also has two staff members who live at the ranch.

Penny said USA Gymnastics' involvement with the ranch will survive the end of Martha Karolyi's day-to-day role with the women's program. Karolyi believes the system of monthly training camps will continue.

Karolyi's successor has yet to be named, but the top candidates are expected to be Valeri Liukin, the former Russian gold medal-winning gymnast and father of 2008 gold medalist Nastia Liukin, and former University of Florida coach Rhonda Faehn, who recently was hired as senior vice president for the women's program.

Whatever the decision, Kim Zmeskal Burdette, the former world champion from Houston who trained with the Karolyis and now owns a successful gym in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, hopes the Karolyi model for success endures.

"She has given us such a strong foundation," she said. "I tell my girls that the training plan is a box, and we try to aim for the middle of it. But sometimes we have to be willing to reach to the outside edges to make the right decisions.

"She has made that box for our country so strong."