1981 Romanians Bela and Martha Karolyi defect in New York City while on a gymnastics tour
1982 Karolyis open gym in Houston
1983 Bela purchases 38 acres of land bordering the Sam Houston National Forest, 60 miles north of Houston, for a summer gymnastics camp
1984 Coached by the Karolyis, Mary Lou Retton becomes the first American to win the gold medal in all-around at the Olympics
1988 Bela coaches U.S. Olympic team
1986-89 Bela buys more land for The Ranch, which now totals 2,000 acres
1991 Karolyis coach Kim Zmeskal to world championships all-around title, the first for an American
1992 Bela coaches U.S. Olympic team
1996 Martha coaches U.S. Olympic team, which wins first-ever gold medal in the team competition; Karolyis retire from coaching
1999 Bela appointed national team coordinator nine months before Sydney Olympics; monthly training camps begin at The Ranch
2001 Martha named national team coordinator and The Ranch is designated Women’s National Team Training Center; monthly training camps continue
2004 Carly Patterson wins all-around gold medal at Athens Olympics and the U.S. takes silver in the team competition
2005 Chellsie Memmel and Nastia Liukin finish 1-2 in the all-around at the world championships
2007 Shawn Johnson wins world championships all-around gold and U.S. takes team title, the first time the U.S. takes both gold medals at worlds
