Nadia Comaneci
She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 summer Olympics. She is one of the best-known gymnasts in the world and, along with Olga Korbut, is credited with popularizing the sport around the world.
Early life
Comăneci was born in Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (now Oneşti), Romania, as the daughter of Gheorghe and Ştefania-Alexandrina. Her pregnant mother was watching a Russian film in which the heroine's name was Nadya, the diminutive version of the Russian name Nadyezhda (which means, literally, "Hope").
Comăneci also has a younger brother named Adrian.
Early gymnastics career
Comăneci began gymnastics in kindergarten with a local team called "Flame", with coaches Duncan and Munteanu. At age 6 she was chosen to attend Béla Károlyi's experimental gymnastics school after Karolyis spotted her and a friend turning cartwheels in a schoolyard.
Comăneci was training with the Károlyis by the time she was 7 years old, in 1969. She was one of the first students at the gymnastics school established in Oneşti by Béla and his wife, Marta, who would later defect to the United States and become coaches of many prominent American gymnasts.
Unlike many of the other students at the Károlyi school, Comăneci was able to commute from home for many years because she lived in the area.
Comăneci placed 13th in her first Romanian National Championships in 1969. A year later, in 1970, she began competing as a member of her hometown team and became the youngest gymnast ever to win the Romanian Nationals. In 1971, she participated in her first international competition, a dual junior meet between Romania and Yugoslavia, winning her first all-around title and contributing to the team gold.
She continued to enjoy success in other meets in 1975, winning the all-around at the "Champions All" competition and placing first in the all-around, vault, beam, and bars at the Romanian National Championships. In the Pre-Olympic test event in Montreal, Comăneci won the all-around and the balance beam golds, as well as silvers in the vault, floor, and bars behind accomplished Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim, who would prove to be one of her greatest rivals over the next five years.
In March 1976, Comăneci competed in the inaugural edition of the American Cup at Madison Square Garden in New York.
She received unprecedented scores of 10.0, which signified a perfect routine without any deductions, on vault in both the preliminary and final rounds of competition and won the all-around. Comaneci also received 10s in other meets in 1976, including the prestigious Chunichi Cup competition in Japan, where she posted perfect marks on the vault and uneven bars.
The international community took note of Comăneci: she was named the United Press International's "Female Athlete of the Year" for 1975.
Montreal Olympics
At the age of 14, Comăneci became one of the stars of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. During the team portion of the competition, her routine on the uneven bars was scored at a 10.0.
It was the first time in modern Olympic gymnastics history that the score had ever been awarded. The scoreboards were not even equipped to display scores of 10.0—so Nadia's perfect marks were reported on the boards as 1.00 instead. Over the course of the Olympics, Comăneci would earn six additional 10s, en route to capturing the all-around, beam, and bars titles and a bronze medal on the floor exercise.
The Romanian team also placed second in the team competition.
Comăneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the all-around title at the Olympics. The theme song from the American soap opera The Young and the Restless became associated with her after cinematographer/feature reporter Robert Riger used it against slow-motion montages of Nadia on the television program ABC's Wide World Of Sports.
The song became a top ten single in the fall of 1976, and the composer, Barry De Vorzon, renamed it to "Nadia's Theme" after her. However, Comăneci never actually performed to "Nadia's Theme." Her floor exercise music was a medley of the songs "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" and "Jump in the Line" arranged for piano.
She was the 1976 BBC Sports Personality of the Year in the overseas athletes category and the Associated Press's 1976 "Female Athlete of the Year". She also retained her title as the UPI Female Athlete of the Year. Back home in Romania, Comăneci's success led her to be named a "Hero of Socialist Labor;" she was the youngest Romanian to receive such recognition during the administration of Nicolae Ceauşescu.
1977–1980
Comăneci successfully defended her European all-around title in 1977, but when questions about the scoring were raised, Ceauşescu ordered the Romanian gymnasts to return home. A fall from the uneven bars resulted in a 4th place finish in the all-around behind Elena Mukhina, Nellie Kim, and Natalia Shaposhnikova, but Comăneci won the beam title.
After the 1978 Worlds, Comăneci was permitted to return to Deva and to the Károlyis. In 1979, a newly slim and motivated Comăneci won her third consecutive European all-around title, becoming the first gymnast, male or female, to achieve the feat.
At the World Championships that December, Comăneci led the field after the compulsory competition but was hospitalized before the optional portion of the team competition for blood poisoning caused by a cut in her wrist from her metal grip buckle. Against doctors' orders, she left the hospital and competed on the beam, where she scored a 9.95.
After her performance, Comăneci spent several days recovering in All Saints Hospital and underwent a minor surgical procedure for the infected hand, which had developed an abscess.
Comăneci participated in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, where she placed second, by a small margin, to Yelena Davydova. Her official retirement ceremony took place in Bucharest in 1984 and was attended by the International Olympic Committee Chairman.
Post retirement
Nadia Comăneci (Right) with Condoleezza Rice
In 1981, Comăneci participated in a gymnastics exhibition tour in the United States. During the tour, her coaches, Béla and Marta Károlyi, along with the Romanian team choreographer Géza Pozsár, defected. Upon her return to Romania, Comăneci's actions were strictly monitored.
Her overland journey took her through Hungary, Austria, and finally, to the United States. Her initial arrival in the United States generated some negative press, focusing on her penchant for heavy makeup and trashy clothes, the fact that Constantin Panait (a Romanian exile who helped her escape from Romania and was her constant companion) was a married father of 4, and hinted at an eating disorder and an unsavory life left behind in Romania.
Comăneci initially settled in Montreal. The memoir answers questions that she has received in letters from fans.
She has also been the subject of several unofficial biographies, television documentaries and a made-for-television film, Nadia, that was broadcast in the United States shortly before the 1984 Olympics.
Comăneci and Conner welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Dylan Paul Conner, on June 3, 2006 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Recent activities
Comăneci is active in many charities and international organizations. In 2004, her 10.0 Montreal uneven bars routine was featured in a commercial for Adidas which ran during the Athens Olympics.
On August 10, 2007, Nadia was a "mob" participant on the American version of the game show 1 vs 100, and was not eliminated until the last 20 members of the mob were left.
She has also been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Special skills
Comăneci was known for her clean technique, innovative and difficult original skills, and her stoic, cool demeanor in competition. On the uneven bars, Comaneci performed her own release move, a kip to front salto.