Early Life

Nadia Comăneci was born in Onești, a town in Bacău County in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania in 1961. In 1968, when she was almost seven years old, Comăneci was selected to join the Béla Károlyi gymnastics academy after Károlyi noticed potential gymnastic skill in her while she was doing cartwheels at school. At first her parents were reluctant due to her young age, but because Comăneci was an energetic and active child, her parents decided to enroll her into the gymnastics classes.

Launching into Gymnastics

Comăneci started competing in 1970 and soon became the youngest gymnast to achieve first place in the Romanian Nationals. She first competed abroad in 1971 in a competition between Romania and Yugoslavia. She was only ten years old but managed to win an all-round title that helped the team achieve a gold medal. During the following years Comăneci won several local and international titles including the titles for uneven bars and the vault, and all-round gold at a Junior Druzhba Friendship Tournament. In 1975 it became obvious that the 13-year old Comăneci was destined for stardom when she took gold medals on nearly every event at the Euro Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in Norway. While she was busy carving out a bright career as a professional gymnast, Comăneci also continued her academic interest in sports and started studying Sports Education at the Politehnica University of Bucharest. The degree she graduated with qualified Comăneci to become a gymnastics coach.

EXCEPTIONAL GYMNASTIC ACHIEVEMENTS

Before Comăneci competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Canada, the company responsible for the Olympics' scoreboard was instructed to design a three-digit board as it was impossible to score a perfect 10.00. The first of six perfect 10s was awarded to Comăneci at the Olympics held in Montreal that year. Because of the limitations of the scoreboard, her marks were displayed as 1.00. She also received three gold medals at the event, making history because she was only 14 years old at the time. Comăneci further attained two gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Moscow. In 2000 the Laureus World Sports Academy named her as one of the outstanding athletes of the 20th century.