Nadia Elena Comăneci (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three

Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the first gymnast ever to be awarded a
perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. 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 .In 2000
Comăneci was named as one of the athletes of the century by the Laureus World Sports
Academy.

Early life
Comăneci was born in Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (now Oneşti), Romania, as the daughter of
Gheorghe and Ştefania-Alexandrina.[5][6] Her pregnant mother was watching a Russian film in
which the heroine's name was Nadya, the diminutive version of the Russian name Nadezhda
(which means "Hope"). She decided that her daughter would be named Nadia, too. Comăneci
also has a younger brother named Adrian.[7]

Early gymnastics career

Nadia began gymnastics in kindergarten with a local team called "Flacăra", with coaches Duncan
and Munteanu.[8][9] At age 6 she was chosen to attend Béla Károlyi's experimental gymnastics
school after Karolyi spotted her and a friend turning cartwheels in a schoolyard.[10][11][12]

Nadia was training with the Károlyis by the time she was 7 years old, in 1968. 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.[13]

Nadia 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.[5] 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. For the next few years, she competed as a junior in numerous
national contests in Romania and additional dual meets with nearby countries such as Hungary,
Italy and Poland.[14] At the age of 11, in 1973, she won the all-around gold, as well as the vault
and uneven bars titles, at the Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba), an important meet for
junior gymnasts.[14][15]

Nadia first major international success came at the age of 13, when she nearly swept the 1975
European Championships in Skien, Norway, winning the all-around and gold medals on every
event but the floor exercise, in which she placed second. 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.[14]

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.[16] Comăneci 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.[17]

The international community took note of Comăneci: she was named the United Press
International's "Female Athlete of the Year" for 1975.[18]

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.[19] 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.[20]

Comăneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the all-around title at the Olympics. She also
holds the record as the youngest Olympic gymnastics all-around champion ever; with the revised
age-eligibility requirements in the sport (gymnasts must now turn 16 in the calendar year to
compete in the Olympics; in 1976 gymnasts had to be 14 by the first day of the competition[21]), it
is currently not possible to legally break this record.

Comăneci's achievements at the Olympics generated a significant amount of media attention.

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.[22] 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.[12] Nadia Comăneci's achievements are also pictured in the entrance
area of the Madison Square Garden in New York City presenting her perfect 10.00 beam-
exercise.

She was the 1976 BBC Sports Personality of the Year in the overseas athletes category[23] and the
Associated Press's 1976 "Female Athlete of the Year".[24] She also retained her title as the UPI
Female Athlete of the Year.[18] 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.[8]
1977–1980

Nadia Comăneci in 1977.

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. The team
followed orders and controversially walked out of the competition during the event finals.[8][25]

Following the 1977 Europeans, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation removed Comăneci from
her longtime coaches, the Károlyis, and sent her to Bucharest to train at the 23 August sports
complex. The change was not positive for Comăneci. Grappling with both the stress of her
parents' divorce and the new training environment, she was extremely unhappy and her
gymnastics and overall fitness suffered.[8][26] Heavier and out-of-shape, Comăneci competed in
the 1978 World Championships. 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.[27] 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. Her performance helped give the Romanians their first team
gold medal. 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.[28][29][30]
Comăneci participated in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, where she placed second, by a
small margin, to Yelena Davydova. She defended her Olympic title in the balance beam and tied
with Nellie Kim for the gold medal in the floor exercise. The Romanian team finished second
overall.

Comăneci retired from competition in 1981. Her official retirement ceremony took place in
Bucharest in 1984 and was attended by the International Olympic Committee Chairman.[19]

Post retirement
In 1981, Comăneci participated in a gymnastics exhibition tour in the United States.[31] During
the tour, her coaches, Béla and Marta Károlyi, along with the Romanian team choreographer
Géza Pozsár, defected.[32] Upon her return to Romania, Comăneci's actions were strictly
monitored. She was granted leave to attend the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles but was
supervised for the entire trip. Aside from that journey, and a few select trips to Moscow and
Cuba, Comăneci was forbidden to leave the country for any reason."[19] "Life..." she wrote in her
autobiography, "took on a new bleakness."[33]

In Romania, between 1984 and 1989, Comăneci was a member of the Romanian Gymnastics
Federation and helped coach the Romanian junior gymnasts. In November 1989, a few weeks
before the Revolution, she defected with a group of other young Romanians. Her overland
journey took her through Hungary, Austria, and finally, to the United States.[8][20][34] 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.[35]

Comăneci initially settled in Montreal. With the help of friends, she successfully distanced
herself from Panait and the image problems of her initial arrival from Romania. Comăneci spent
most of her time touring and promoting lines of gymnastics apparel and aerobic equipment. She
also dabbled in modeling, appearing in advertisements for wedding dresses and Jockey
underwear.[20]

While she was living in Montreal, Bart Conner, whom she had met for the first time in 1976 at
the American Cup, contacted her and invited her to live in Oklahoma. They became engaged in
1994. Together with Conner, she returned to Romania for the first time since her defection (and
since the fall of Communism and Ceauşescu's death), and the couple were married in Bucharest
on April 27, 1996. The ceremony was broadcast live in Romania, and the reception was held in
the former presidential palace.[20][36]

On June 29, 2001, Comăneci became a naturalized citizen of the United States. She has also
retained her Romanian passport, making her a dual citizen.[8]

In December 2003, Comăneci's book Letters To A Young Gymnast was published, a combination
of mentoring book and memoir. The book answered 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.[37]

Comăneci and Conner welcomed their first child, a son named Dylan Paul Conner, on June 3,
2006 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[38][39]

Recent activities

Nadia Comăneci (right) with Condoleezza Rice.

Comăneci is active in many charities and international organizations. In 1999, she became the
first athlete to be invited to speak at the United Nations to launch the Year 2000 International
Year of Volunteers. She is currently the Vice-Chair of the Board Of Directors of the
International Special Olympics and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Muscular
Dystrophy Association.[20][40] She has also personally funded the construction and operation of the
Nadia Comăneci Children's Clinic, a clinic in Bucharest that provides low-cost and free medical
and social support to Romanian children.[19]

In 2003, the Romanian government appointed her as an Honorary Consul General of Romania to
the United States to deal with bilateral relations between the two nations. She performs this
function based out of her Norman, Oklahoma, office.[41]
In the world of gymnastics, Comăneci is the Honorary President of the Romanian Gymnastics
Federation, the Honorary President of Romanian Olympic Committee, Ambassador of Sports of
Romania and a member of the International Gymnastics Federation Foundation. She and her
husband own the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy, the Perfect 10 Production Company and
several sports equipment shops. They are also the editors of International Gymnast magazine.
Additionally, Comăneci and Conner have provided television commentary for many gymnastics
meets, most recently the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne[20] and the 2008 Olympic
Games in Beijing.[42] 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. In January
2008, she was one of the contestants in the celebrity edition of Donald Trump's television
program The Apprentice.[43]

Awards
Comăneci received the Olympic Order, the highest award given by the International Olympic
Committee, in 1984 and 2004. She is the only person to receive this honor twice, and was also
the youngest recipient. She has also been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of
Fame.[44]

Special skills
Comăneci was known for her clean technique, innovative and difficult original skills, and her
stoic, cool demeanor in competition.[12][45][46][47]

On the uneven bars, Comăneci performed her own release move, a kip to front salto. The skill is
named after her in the women's Code of Points and, as of 2005, was rated as an 'E' element.[45][46]
and a 'Comăneci dismount' a half twist to back salto.

On balance beam, Comăneci was the first gymnast to successfully perform an aerial walkover
and an aerial cartwheel-back handspring flight series. She is also credited as being the first
gymnast to perform a double-twist dismount.[12][45][46]

Comăneci's skills on the floor exercise included a double back salto and a double twist.[46]

Pop culture references

• Nadia is a 1984 made-for-television biopic of Nadia Comăneci.

• When Joanne Charis states that the girls need to stay and practice their routines in the
movie Stick It, Meena responds: "Who died and made you Nadia?"
• In the ABC hit television show, Lost season 3 episode 11, the character Mikhail Bakunin
(named after the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin) has a cat named Nadia, named after
Nadia Comăneci, whom he calls "the greatest athlete the world has ever known." He also
reveals that they share a birthday. In addition, the station Mikhail works in is called the
"Flame", which is also the name of Comăneci's first gymnastics team.

• In the CBS TV series, Dallas the character Nicholas Pearce (Jack Scalia) states he knows
Romania so well since he's a good friend of Nadia Comăneci.

• Gilda Radner played Comăneci on several episodes of Saturday Night Live, as well as in
an extended skit in her 1979 stage show Gilda Live.

• Nadia Turner, singer and actress, and American Idol Season 4 Finalist was named after
Nadia Comăneci.

• Swimmer Nadia Anita Nall, who won three Olympic medals including a relay gold, was
named Nadia as her father was watching television awaiting her birth.[48]

• In the 1979 Film Love at First Bite, Dracula is evicted from his castle when the
Romanian state claims it as a gymnastic training facility. Dracula, played by George
Hamilton is informed that they will be coming with "parallel bars, swings and Nadia
Comăneci. Don't be here".

• In the Japanese drama Honey and Clover, Shinobu Morita makes a reference to
Comăneci's signature stance during episode two.

• In the anime Sohryuden, Matsuri Toba makes a reference to Comăneci as she uses her
body's flexibility to free herself from ropes. Her quote was, "Fortunately, the thugs didn't
know that when I was in grade school, I had aspired to becoming Japan's answer to
Comăneci".