Gymnast, born in Onesti, C Moldova. Representing Romania, she was the star of the 1976 Olympic Games, when at the age of 14 (coached by Bela Karolyi) she won gold medals in the beam, vault, and floor disciplines. She retained the beam and floor exercise gold medals in 1980. In 1976 she became the first gymnast to obtain a perfect score of 10 for her performance on the parallel bars and beam. Later she became an international judge, and coach to the Romanian national team. In 1989, amid much publicity, she defected to the USA via Hungary.
| Olympic medalist | |||
|
Nadia Comaneci |
|||
| Medal record | |||
| Women's Artistic Gymnastics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1976 Montreal | All-around | |
| Gold | 1976 Montreal | Uneven bars | |
| Gold | 1976 Montreal | Balance beam | |
| Gold | 1980 Moscow | Balance beam | |
| Gold | 1980 Moscow | Floor exercise | |
| Silver | 1976 Montreal | Team competition | |
| Silver | 1980 Moscow | Team competition | |
| Silver | 1980 Moscow | All-around | |
| Bronze | 1976 Montreal | Floor exercise | |
Nadia Elena Comaneci (originally Comăneci /ko.mə'neʧʲ/) (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian gymnast, winner of five Olympic gold medals, and the first to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event.
Early life
Comaneci was born in Oneşti, Romania on 12 November 1961, the daughter of Gheorghe and Ştefania-Alexandrina.
Gymnastics competition career
Comaneci began gymnastics at the age of 6, after coach Béla Károlyi spotted her and a friend turning cartwheels in the schoolyard. She was one of the first students at the gymnastics school established by Károlyi and his wife Marta, who would later defect to the United States and become coaches of many great American gymnasts.
Comaneci began competing as a member of her hometown team in 1970.
Comaneci's first major international success came at age thirteen, when she nearly swept the 1975 European Championships in Skien, Norway, winning the all-around and gold medals on every single event except floor exercise, where she placed second. At the Pre-Olympic test event in Montreal, Comaneci won the all-around and the balance beam gold, as well as silvers on the vault, floor and bars behind Soviet Nellie Kim, a gymnast who would prove to be one of her greatest rivals over the subsequent five years of competition. The international community took notice of Comaneci: Associated Press named her their 1975 "Athlete of the Year".
At age 14, Comaneci became the star of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Comaneci took home a total of five medals from Montreal, winning the balance beam and uneven bars titles, sharing in the team silver and placing third on the floor exercise, in addition to her all-around gold.
Comaneci successfully defended her European all-around title in 1977, but when questions about the scoring were raised, Ceauşescu ordered the gymnasts to return to Romania.
In 1979, a newly slim and motivated Comaneci won her third consecutive European overall title, becoming the first gymnast, male or female, to do so. At the World Championships that December, Comaneci led the field after the compulsory competition but was hospitalized prior to the optional portion of the team competition for blood poisoning due to a cut in her wrist from her metal grip buckle.
Comaneci retired from competition in 1981.
Post retirement
In 1981, Comaneci participated in a gymnastics exhibition tour in the United States.
Working in Romania, between 1984 and 1989, Comaneci was a member of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and helped coach the Romanian junior gymnasts.
After settling in the United States, Comaneci spent most of her time touring and promoting lines of gymnastics apparel and aerobic equipment.
In 1994, she became engaged to US gymnast Bart Conner, whom she had met for the first time in 1976 at the American Cup, and returned to Romania for the first time since her defection. Comaneci and Conner were married in Romania on April 27, 1996, holding their wedding reception in the former Presidential Palace. On June 29, 2001, Comaneci became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Comaneci is active in many charities and international organizations. She has also personally funded the construction and operation of the Nadia Comaneci Children's Clinic, a clinic in Bucharest that provides low-cost and free medical and social support to Romanian children.
In the world of gymnastics, Comaneci 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. Additionally, Comaneci and Conner have provided television commentary for many gymnastics meets, most recently the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne.
Comaneci received the Olympic Order, the highest award given by the International Olympic Committee, in 1984 and 2004. Comaneci 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.
Comaneci and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Dylan Paul Conner, on June 3, 2006 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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