The national training center for the United States women’s gymnastics team is a hard place to reach.

It’s about 60 miles north of Houston, inside Sam Houston National Forest, on a 2,000-acre ranch owned by Bela and Martha Karolyi, the coaching couple who defected from Romania and became the guiding force of U.S.A. Gymnastics.

On my way down the dirt road to the ranch in 2008, a wild boar crossed the road just ahead of me. Upon arriving, I was greeted by a peacock. Bela Karolyi told me he was proud to have no neighbors.

The site is so remote that the U.S.A. Gymnastics website says cell reception “is a bit sketchy.” Families are not allowed to stay over. They can visit only with permission.