SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Bela Karolyi, a world-famous gymnastics coach from Romania, said "these people are really trash" when asked about abuse allegations raised by a former Olympian living in Sacramento.

Karolyi and his wife, Martha, were honored by a Houston civic group as international executives of the year. Olympic champion Mary Lou Retton was in the audience.

During his remarks, Bela Karolyi recalled his days training young athletes in Romania.

"Then, back in the poorest region of Romania, I started out to do a gymnastic program, the one that in four years became the most famous thing in Romania. Itty, bitty little kids beating the living hell out of everybody else," he said.

Later, Karolyi told a reporter that he doesn't regret anything he did and that he ignores the recent abuse allegations.

"I'm not even commenting," he said. "I don't appreciate at that level even to have a word on this. These people are really trash, and I'm not messing with that."

Former Olympic gymnast Trudi Kollar, who raised the accusations, said she's not surprised.

"The fact that he says he does not deny it -- that should say a lot. And calling people 'trash,' you know, it's a very ugly way of making comments about people. As far as I remember in my interview, I never called him any bad words," she said.

Kollar was known to the world as Emelia Eberle; she was 12 years old when she was summoned to join Romania's national team in 1976. She earned 13 individual medals in international competition, including an Olympic silver medal.

But she said the recognition came with a price: Mistakes in training or competition brought physical pain -- frequent beatings from Bela Karolyi, she alleged.

After talking about her memories publicly, Kollar said she's gotten worldwide reaction.

"Everything is so positive, and people are saying that they are so proud of me that I had the courage to speak out after all these years," she said.

Geza Pozsar, a Karolyi colleague for 30 years who supports Kollar's story, told Sacramento television station KCRA by telephone: "He called the people who disagreed with him, all of them, animals. He insults everyone who tells the truth."