Few names have loomed as large in the world of gymnastics as Martha and Bela Karolyi, legendary coaches known for tough, Soviet-style training that produced Olympic champions over a span of three decades.

But the Karolyis' reputation is now clouded by claims they did little to prevent the molestation of gymnasts by Larry Nassar when he worked as team doctor at the Karolyi Ranch.

The question of who was responsible for the gymnasts’ overall security and safety has become a critical issue in civil lawsuits filed by gymnasts claiming they were abused by Nassar at the Karolyis’ ranch in the woods outside of Houston.

Martha Karolyi states plainly that security wasn’t part of her duties as national team training coordinator from 2001 until her retirement in 2016.

In a May 2017 deposition recently obtained by The Dallas Morning News, Karolyi said when gymnasts weren't training with her inside the gym, their safety and security weren't her responsibility.

“Well, certainly, I wanted them to be safe, but I had my duties,” Karolyi said in a deposition at her Houston attorney’s office. “And my duties were very specifically about the training, and some other people were responsible for other parts.”

The deposition is part of a civil lawsuit filed by former elite gymnast Mattie Larson, who has accused Nassar of sexually abusing her at the Karolyis' ranch and training facility when he worked as a doctor for USA Gymnastics.

In the deposition, Karolyi said she the first she heard of a complaint about Nassar abusing gymnasts came when she got a phone call in June 2015 from Steve Penny, then president of USA Gymnastics (USAG), the national governing body for the sport.

Before then, she had heard no complaints about Nassar during her tenure as national training coordinator. “Absolutely not,” she said.

Former Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar appeared via video link for his arraignment hearing Nov. 22, 2016, in Mason, Mich. Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics doctor, eventually pleaded guilty criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison. (Chris Haxel / The Associated Press)

Responding to questions specifically about Nassar, Karolyi said in the deposition that the team doctor was only occasionally at the ranch. “He was there seldom, very seldom,” she said. “Only maximum two times a year.”

'Toxic environment'

In the lawsuit, Larson named USA Gymnastics as well as the Karolyis as defendants, saying the legendary gymnastic coaches “created a toxic environment,” which allowed Nassar “to continue his systematic sexual abuse of minor children, without abatement.”

The lawsuit filed in a California state court claimed the Karolyis “allowed Nassar to have unfettered and secluded access to minor children ... in the children’s living and sleeping quarters” and “turned a blind eye to the perpetrator Nassar’s sexual abuse of children at the Ranch.”

The Karolyis’ attorney, Gary Jewell, repeatedly objected to questions regarding Nassar and his relationship with the Karolyis. Nassar was team doctor for USA Gymnastics from 1996 to 2015.

Jewell declined to comment to The News. In court filings the attorney has argued to dismiss the complaint, saying the state of California lacks jurisdiction over the Karolyis, whose personal lives and business have been based in Texas for more than 30 years.

During a key exchange in the deposition, Martha Karolyi was asked specifically who looked after the female gymnasts when they traveled to meets and tournaments around the world.

"When you were the national team coordinator from 2001 to 2016, who was in charge of security at The Ranch, if anyone?" asked Larson's attorney, John Manly.

"I — I really wasn't in charge of organizing that. I don't know. It's — I think USA Gymnastics took care of it," Karolyi said.

Manly also pressed Karolyi about the security of the gymnasts in their hotel rooms. “Mrs. Karolyi, I think what you’re telling me is: You never understood your responsibilities to be inclusive of monitoring who was not and who was in the girls’ hotel rooms; is that correct?” Manly asked.

“What I’m saying,” answered Martha Karolyi, “I was in charge of the preparation of the gymnasts. And my duty was to make sure they keep those routines and they train well.”

Had Karolyi ever witnessed Nassar treating the gymnasts, Manly asked. “Did you ever see them face down where they’d been disrobed below the waist and a towel over their buttocks?”

“I don’t recall seeing that, but — oh, no. I don’t think so,” Karolyi answered.

Larson and former national team gymnast Jeanette Antolin have publicly claimed that Nassar abused them while they trained at the Karolyi Ranch.

In January, USA Gymnsatics severed ties with the ranch, ending a long-term lease to use the facility to train the nation's elite gymnasts.

The decision to close the ranch coincided with a sentencing hearing for Nassar in Michigan. He received 40 to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing seven girls. More than 150 women have come forward before and since to say they were victims of his abuse.

In late January, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate allegations of sexual assault at the Karolyi Ranch. The status of that investigation is unclear and the Rangers have declined to comment.

Congress is also investigating how the abuse could have gone on so long undetected. The Karolyi Ranch is a central focus in that inquiry. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has demanded documents from the Karolyis as well as USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee and Michigan State University.

Karolyi and her husband, Bela, who preceded his wife as national team coordinator, had very little to do with the day-to-day operation of the ranch when it hosted the women’s national gymnastics team for training, Martha Karolyi said.

“I set the rules inside of the gym,” Karolyi said. Outside of the gym, USA Gymnastics was in charge, she said.

USA Gymnastics was in charge of security at the ranch when the national team trained there, Karolyi said. “I really wasn’t in charge of organizing that. I don’t know. It’s — I think USA Gymnastics took care of it.”

The medical needs of gymnasts attending the camps at the ranch also were the responsibility of USA Gymnastics, she said.

The organization that controls competitive, Olympic-level gymnastics would not comment on Martha Karolyi’s statements.

“USA Gymnastics declines to comment pending legal matters,” said Leslie King, spokeswoman for the organization.

The Karolyi Ranch

Built by Bela Karolyi in the mid-1980s and located an hour’s drive north of Houston, the Karolyi ranch became a mecca for elite female gymnasts with Olympic aspirations.

Gymnasts line up on the floor at the end of a training session to listen to National Coordinator and coach Martha Karolyi speak at the USA Gymnastics Women's National Team Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch near New Waverly om May 7, 2008. (Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News)

The gymnasts labored under training conditions that were “oppressive and emotionally abusive,” according to Larson’s lawsuit. It was a “win-at-all-costs mentality, implemented through fear and intimidation,” which left the gymnasts vulnerable to a pedophile pretending to be their friend, the lawsuit states.

"You're afraid of all the adults around you," Antolin told The News in February. Nassar "was your buddy. He would cheer you up. And he would give you snacks because you weren't allowed to bring any food into the camp."

Secluded and remote

National team gymnasts came together to train at the Karolyi Ranch about eight or nine times a year, Martha Karolyi said. During the week of training, the gymnasts stayed in cabins on the sprawling, secluded grounds, located in remote Sam Houston National Forest. Cellphone service was spotty, and parents were excluded. The gymnasts would receive medical treatments, including massages, during the lunch period and other times they weren’t training.

USA Gymnastics paid the Karolyis $60 per gymnast for each day that were at the ranch, Martha Karolyi said in the deposition. The money paid for the cost of room and board and maintenance, she said in response to questions from Manly.

The Karolyis own the ranch through a single entity, BMK Partners LLC, and it is this entity that was part of the leasing contract with USA Gymnastics. The governing body refused to release a copy of the lease to The News.

Terri Langford, a former staff writer, contributed to this report.