Nadia Comaneci

Nadia Comaneci

Real Name: Nadia Comaneci
A.k.a:
Category: Sports Heroes
Submitted by: Bob Sacamano
Posted Date: 2001-12-29
Last Modified: 2020-01-14

Nadia was well on her way to an illustrious career in gymnastics when she sealed the deal by scoring the first perfect 10 in Olympic history at the 1976 Olympic games in Montreal on the compulsory bars. By the end of the games she won 3 gold medals, a silver and a bronze and became a household name throughout the world: Nadia (except in her native Romania where this was qualified: Our Nadia)

What happened to:

There isn’t anough room here to do her story justice, see the reference page at gymnasticgreats.com. In a nutshell her career denouement was characterised by scoring controversies (1977 European Championships) and turbulence at home, a rumoured suicide attempt (later denied), the divorce of her parents, and political instability, more controversy (1980 Olympics)
She did some coaching, attended the 1984 L.A. Olympics, and then amid more controversy, defected from Romania slightly before the fall of Ceausecu. She was apparently in a repressive relationship with her co-defector here, and eventually got away with the help of a Romanian expat in Montreal. Alexander Stefu, who was then killed in a car accident.

Nadia now runs a gym in Oklahoma and provides commentary on “Perfect Ten TV Productions”.

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Nadia Comaneci

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