Defection Is Vivid To Pozsar 

By John A. Ferguson World Sports Writer 
12/14/97

 The date was March 30, 1981, and Geza Pozsar, choreographer for gymnasts for six Olympiads, remembered the day vividly.

 It was when he and world-renowned coach Bela Karolyi defected to the United States during a Romanian gymnastics tour in New York City.

 At the time of the defection Pozsar and Karolyi had worked together since 1974.

 And on that same day President Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt by John W. Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C.

 ``What a country!'' Pozsar recalled. ``If that had happened in Romania, the revolution would have started.''

 The 47-year- old Hungarian, who spent his earlier years in Cluj, a city of nearly 200,000 in Romania, looks back on his defection to the U.S. proudly.

 ``I love this country," he said. "The individual has the opportunity to succeed. In a communist country, I was just part of the machinery."

Pozsar came to Tulsa with the USA Gymnastics Federation, working with the elite U.S. female athletes at Tulsa World of Gymnastics.

 When it comes to choreography, Pozsar has been a part of the success of the world's best female gymnasts from Romanian Nadia Comaneci to Edmond's Shannon Miller.

 Pozsar's life work as a choreographer for gymnasts is a labor of love. Although his coaching for USA Gymnastics Federation keeps him on the road nearly the year-round, he has a gymnastics club at his base in Sacramento, Calif.

 His daughter, Karina, a freshman at the University of Southern California, is a cinema major in managing production.

 That's what her father has been doing for years in gymnastics. The Gold, Silver and Bronze medals achieved by his students are his reward.

 Mention Comaneci and a smile creases Pozsar's face.

 ``I like to think I was the coach behind her grace,'' said Pozsar. ``She was the most graceful gymnast I ever coached. Her body doesn't know gravity. Nadia was to gymnastics like Mozart was to music.''

 Pozsar uses a sense of humor as a teaching tool.

 ``I can make a difference in the life of a child because I love what I'm doing,'' said Pozsar, who came to Oklahoma in August to work with Miller just before the World University Games and her gymnastics tour.

 ``I was getting ready to leave with (wife) Maria on a brief vacation to Carmel (Calif.) when Shannon called,'' said Pozsar.

 He interrupted the vacation and flew to Oklahoma City where he worked with Miller for nine consecutive hours on three floor routines.

 ``Nobody works harder than Shannon,'' said Pozsar.

 Left behind in Romania were his parents and a brother.

 ``It was tough on them for a few years when I defected,'' Pozsar said. ``My brother had a good job with a chemical company, but he was demoted and the family was harassed. It'll take a couple of generations to get things changed in Romania.''

 While developing a new USA Gymnastics Women's Team, Pozsar's goal for the year 2000 in Australia is to "win a few medals and then Gold again in Athens, Greece, where the Olympics began, in 2004.

 ``And if that occurs, then I think I'll feel very, very good.''