Nadia Comăneci
Romanian gymnast and five-time Olympic gold medalist (born 1961)
Nadia Comăneci and the perfect ten
A young gymnast on an international stage
Nadia Comăneci trained in Romania and won the European Championships in 1975, before her Olympic debut. At Montreal in 1976 she was only fourteen, but already had experience against senior competitors. Her routines combined exact technique with a composure that made her performances unusually memorable to spectators far beyond gymnastics.
The score that changed expectations
At the Montreal Games, Comăneci received the first perfect 10 awarded in Olympic gymnastics. She recorded seven perfect scores in all and won individual gold medals in the all-around, uneven bars and balance beam. The achievement was more than a scoreboard curiosity: it brought sustained international attention to women’s artistic gymnastics.
Another Olympics and a new life
At the 1980 Moscow Games she added gold medals on balance beam and floor exercise. After retiring from competition in 1984, she coached in Romania, then left the country for the United States in 1989. Her later work as a commentator and advocate kept her connected to the sport that had made her famous.