Nadia Comăneci

From the age of six Nadia trained with Coach Bela Karolyi who set up an experimental gym in her home town of Onesti. His training regime was extremely intense with six hours of gymnastics a day with lighter training days once a week and on a Sunday.

Although her first professional competition aged nine, saw Nadia finish 13th it wasn’t long before she began her perfect 10 pattern; the inaugural edition of the American Cup, the Chunichi Cup competition in Japan and most famously at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Nadia scored the first Olympic perfect ten during a team compulsory routine in the Asymmetric Bars. The official scoreboard manufacturer was asked before the Olympics whether four digits would be necessary for the gymnastics. They were adamant that a perfect 10.00 would not be possible and so a display was built showing only three digits. This meant that Nadia's perfect marks were displayed as 1.00 and not 10.00!

Her success in the world of gymnastics continued for another five years until she retired from the competition in 1981. During this time, Comăneci had won 21 Gold medals, 7 Silver and 2 Bronze.

Back in Romania, Comăneci was a member of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and helped coach the Romanian junior gymnasts between 1984 and 1989.

In November 1989, a few weeks before the revolution in Romania, Nadia defected with a group of other young Romanians. Her overland journey took her through Hungary, Austria, and finally, to the United States.

Nadia now lives in Oklahoma with her husband and ex-US Olympic Champion gymnast Bart Conner. The couple first met at the 1976 American cup, where Conner won the men's, and Comăneci the women's title. They reconnected in 1989, when Comăneci fled Romania. Together they own a gymnastics academy and several sports equipment shops. They are also editors of International Gymnast magazine.