If the world remembers nothing else about Romanian gymnast November, it will be this: 10. A perfect score. It was the first the world had seen in gymnastics, and she received seven of them at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Born in 1961 in Onesti, Moldova, Romania, Nadia Elena Comaneci started school in 1968, where she caught the attention of talent scouts for the Romanian National Junior Team. Scout Bela Karolyi saw her playing on the courtyard, pretending to be a gymnast with another child. "I knew I would never leave that school until I found those two little girls," he later said.
Nadia was accepted into the new Gymnastics High School, where she spent four hours a day in the gym and five in the classroom. At age 8, she competed in the 1970 Romanian National Championships, and in 1971 and 1972 she won all-around titles for her age group. She won first place in her first international competition in 1971 in Yugoslavia.
She arrived at the 1976 Olympics suffering from sciatica, which made strong movements of her legs painful. She was 4'11" tall, barely 86 pounds. She had no hopes of taking home the gold.
But then she hit the uneven bars, scoring a perfect 10 -- a world first. She would score six more before the end of the Olympics and became an international media darling in the process.
She left Montreal with seven perfect 10s, three gold medals (uneven bars, balance beam, all-around), one silver medal (team) and one bronze (floor exercise). Four years later in Moscow, she grabbed two gold medals (balance beam and floor exercise) and two silver medals (all-around and team).
Nadia's last major competition was the World University Games in Bucharest in 1981. She retired in 1984, just weeks before the Los Angeles Olympics. Later she became an international judge, and coach to the Romanian national team. In 1989 she defected to the United States via Hungary and began a career as a model.
She currently lives in Norman, Okla., where she is a gymnastic coach at her husband Bart Conner's Gymnast Academy.
Biography 2
It is practically impossible to talk about Romanian Gymnastics without mentioning Nadia. She is a legand in this sport. At the 1976 Olympics Nadia made history, becoming the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10. At those games she recieved 7 perfect 10s, 3 gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
Nadia Facts: •born on November 12, 1961 in Onesti •parents are Gheorge and Stefania-Alexandria •has a younger brother, Adrian •began gymnastics at the age of 6 •retired in 1984 •defected to the United States in 1989 •married Bart Conner on April 27, 1996 •resides in Norman Oklahoma Nadia Results
1972 Romanian Junior National Championships: 1st Team, 1st AA
1973 Romanian International: 1st AA, 1st UB, 1st FX, 1st BB, 1st V
1973 ROM vs ITA: 1st Team, 1st AA
1975 Champions All: 1st AA
1975 European Championships: 1st AA, 1st V, 1st UB, 1st B, 2nd FX
1975 Pre Olympics: 1st AA, 1st UB, 2nd V, 2nd FX, 3rd B
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