USAG has psoted a short interview with Martha Karolyi and her views on Liang Chow who has now had two Olympic All Around Champions, Gabby Douglas (gold AA) 2012 and Shawn Johnson (silver AA) 2008.
USA Gymnastics: Chow has had two consecutive Olympic champions in the last two Olympic Games. What do you think is so special about Chow?
Martha: In my eyes he is one of the most excellent coaches in the world. He has a few very important qualities like technical knowledge. Without that, there is no way to teach world-class gymnasts. But, just knowing how to teach skills is not sufficient to produce champions. He is also an extremely mature person on how he deals with his athletes. He knows when to push and when to back off and how to handle stressful situations. He knows when to take over the responsibilities from his gymnasts’ shoulders. And he makes sure his gymnasts feel secure in the moment they have to perform.USA Gymnastics: What makes Chow excel as a coach?
Martha: Chow has the whole package. Chow has it all – technical knowledge, consistency in training, everyday expectation, understanding the gymnast, treating his gymnast right, building confidence – all of these things he does right. That is why he is always able to come up with world-class gymnasts and they can perform in key moments. He is already raising the next generation and soon we will have his new talent in the camps. He has two to three little girls who will be the right age at the next Olympic Games. We are hoping for another prodigy.
Read the interview in full here.
Image via Ghetty Images.
