Editing Nadia Comăneci (section)

== Gymnastics career ==
=== Early gymnastics career ===
[[File:Nadia Comăneci Prague1977.jpeg|thumb|upright|left|Nadia Comăneci during the European Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia in May 1977]]

Nadia began gymnastics in kindergarten with a local team called ''Flacără'' ("The Flame"), with coaches Duncan and Munteanu.<ref name=Fischer>{{cite web |url=http://www.gymn.ca/gymnasticgreats/wag/comaneci.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528004353/http://www.gymn.ca/gymnasticgreats/wag/comaneci.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 28, 2010 |title=Nadia Comaneci, a living legend.... |author=Fisher, Barbara; Isbister, Jennifer |work=Gymnastics Greats |publisher=Gymn.ca |date=November 15, 2003 |access-date=October 20, 2014}}</ref><ref>Comăneci</ref> At age 6, she was chosen to attend [[Béla Károlyi]]'s experimental gymnastics school, after Károlyi spotted her and a friend turning [[Cartwheel (gymnastics)|cartwheels]] in a schoolyard.<ref name="Comaneci2011p17">Comăneci, pp. 17–19.</ref><ref name=si>Deford, Frank. [https://www.si.com/vault/1976/08/02/615419/nadia-comaneci-1976-olympics-perfect-scores "Nadia Awed Ya"]. ''Sports Illustrated''. August 2, 1976.</ref> Károlyi was looking for gymnasts he could train from a young age. When recess ended, the girls quickly went inside and Károlyi went around the classrooms trying to find them; he eventually spotted Comăneci. The other girl, Viorica Dumitru, developed in a different direction and became one of Romania's top [[Ballet|ballerinas]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.heraldweekly.com/nadia-comaneci-romanias-national-treasure/3 |title=Made In Romania - Nadia Comăneci- Romania’s National Treasure |last=Salen |first=Erika |date=September 26, 2024 |website=heraldweekly.com |access-date=February 21, 2025}}</ref>

By 1968, when she was seven, Comăneci started training with Károlyi. She was one of the first students at the gymnastics school established in Onești by Károlyi and his wife, [[Márta Károlyi|Márta]]. As a resident of the town, Comăneci was able to live at home for many years; most of the other students boarded at the school.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.themorning.lk/articles/135790 |title=The unbelievable story of Nadia Comăneci |date=15 May 2021 |website=themorning.lk |access-date=21 February 2025}}</ref>

In 1970, Comăneci began competing as a member of her home town team and, at age nine, became the youngest gymnast ever to win the Romanian Nationals. In 1971 she participated in her first international competition, a dual junior meet between Romania and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], winning her first [[List of gymnastics terms#A|all-around]] title and contributing to the team [[Gold medal|gold]]. For the next few years, she competed as a junior in numerous national contests in Romania and dual meets with countries such as [[Hungary]], [[Italy]] and [[Poland]].<ref name="List of competitive results">[http://www.gymn-forum.net/bios/women/comaneci.html List of competitive results] Gymn-Forum</ref> At the age of 11, in 1973, she won the all-around gold, as well as the [[Vault (gymnastics)|vault]] and [[uneven bars]] titles, at the Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba), an important international meet for junior gymnasts.<ref name="List of competitive results"/><ref>Comăneci, pp. 27–28.</ref>

Comăneci's first major international success came at the age of 13, when she nearly swept the board at the 1975 [[European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships]] in [[Skien]], [[Norway]]. She won the all-around and gold medals in every event but the [[Floor (gymnastics)|floor exercise]], in which she was placed second. She continued to enjoy success that year, winning the all-around at the 'Champions All' competition and coming first in the all-around, vault, [[Balance beam|beam]] and bars at the [[Romanian Gymnastics National Championships|Romanian National Championships]]. In the pre-Olympic test event in [[Montreal]] Comăneci won the all-around and the balance beam golds as well as [[Silver medal|silvers]] in the vault, floor and bars. Accomplished [[Soviet people|Soviet gymnast]] [[Nellie Kim]] won the golds in those events and was one of Comăneci's greatest rivals for the next five years.<ref name="List of competitive results"/>
[[File:Memorial Nadia Comaneci.jpg|thumb|Monument dedicated to the [[Onești]] gymnastics school champions including Comăneci]]

===1976===
====American Cup====
In March 1976, Comăneci competed in the inaugural edition of the [[American Cup (Gymnastics)|American Cup]] at [[Madison Square Garden]] in Manhattan. She received rare scores of 10, which signified a perfect routine without any deductions, for her vault in the preliminary stage and for her floor exercise routine in the final of the all-around competition, which she won.<ref>[http://www.gymn-forum.net/Articles/NYT-1976_AmCup2.html "Gymnast Posts Perfect Mark"] Robin Herman, ''[[New York Times]],'' March 28, 1976.</ref> During this competition, Comăneci met American gymnast [[Bart Conner]] for the first time. While he remembered this meeting, Comăneci noted in her memoirs that she had to be reminded of it later in life. She was 14 and Conner was celebrating his 18th birthday.<ref>Comăneci, p. 53.</ref> They both won a silver cup and were photographed together. A few months later, they participated in the [[1976 Summer Olympics]] that Comăneci dominated, while Conner was a marginal figure. Conner later said, "Nobody knew me, and [Comăneci] certainly didn't pay attention to me."<ref name=first>{{cite web |url=http://www.wherearetheynow.buzz/adorable-way-olympic-couple-first-met |title=The Adorable Way This Olympic Couple First Met |access-date=August 19, 2016 |date=2016 |publisher=[[Oprah: Where Are They Now?]]}}</ref>

====1976 Summer Olympics====
[[File:Nadia Comăneci Montreal1976f.jpg|thumb|left|Comăneci at the 1976 Olympics]]
{{blockquote|At Montreal [Comăneci] received four of her seven 10s on the uneven bars. The apparatus demands such a spectacular burst of energy in such a short time—only 23 seconds—that it attracts the most fanfare. But it is on the beam that her work seems more representative of her considerable skill. She scored three of her seven 10s on the beam. Her hands speak there as much as her body. Her pace magnifies her balance. Her command and distance hush the crowd. |source=''[[Sports Illustrated]]'', 1976<ref name=si/>}}

[[File:Nadia Comăneci Montreal1976c.jpg|thumb|right|Comăneci at the 1976 Olympics]]
On July 18, 1976, Comăneci made history at the Montreal Olympics. During the team compulsory portion of the competition, she was awarded the first [[Perfect 10 (gymnastics)|perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics]] for her routine on the [[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's uneven bars|uneven bars]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBrwQ7-I6t8 |title=Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 &#124; Epic Olympic Moments |date=December 10, 2015 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usghof.org/files/bio/n_comaneci/n_comaneci.html |title=Biography: COMANECI, Nadia |publisher=U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame |access-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref><ref name=Cousineau>{{cite book |last1=Cousineau |first1=Phil |year=2003 |title=The Olympic Odyssey: Rekindling the True Spirit of the Great Games |pages=[https://archive.org/details/olympicodysseyre0000cous/page/160 160–161] |publisher=Quest Books |isbn=0835608336 |url=https://archive.org/details/olympicodysseyre0000cous/page/160}}</ref> [[Omega SA]], the official Olympics scoreboard manufacturer, had been led to believe that competitors could not receive a perfect ten, and had not programmed the scoreboard to display this score.<ref name=guardian20111214>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/london-2012-olympics-blog/2011/dec/14/50-olympic-moments-nadia-comaneci |title=50 stunning Olympic moments No5: Nadia Comaneci scores a perfect 10 |work=The Guardian |date=December 14, 2011 |access-date=July 31, 2012}}</ref> Comăneci's perfect 10 thus appeared as "1.00," the only means by which the judges could indicate that she had received a 10.<ref name=Cousineau /><ref name="Still A Perfect 10">{{cite web |first=Paul |last=Ziert |title=Still A Perfect 10 |url=http://www.olympic.org/upload/news/olympic_review/review_2005628172259_UK.pdf |year=2005 |publisher=Olympic Review |access-date=June 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627102550/http://www.olympic.org/upload/news/olympic_review/review_2005628172259_UK.pdf |archive-date=June 27, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

During the remainder of the Montreal Games, Comăneci earned six additional "10s". She won gold medals for [[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic individual all-around|the individual all-around]], [[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's balance beam|the balance beam]] and [[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's uneven bars|uneven bars]]. She also won a bronze for the [[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's floor|floor exercise]] and a silver as part of the [[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic team all-around|team all-around]].<ref name="InterGym">[https://web.archive.org/web/20011006172435/http://www.intlgymnast.com/legends/comaneci.html Legends: Nadia Comăneci] ''International Gymnast'' magazine</ref> [[Soviet people|Soviet]] gymnast [[Nellie Kim]] was [[Nellie Kim#Olympics and World Championships|her main rival during the Montreal Olympics]]; Kim became the second gymnast to receive a perfect ten, in her case for her performance on the vault.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gymn.ca/gymnasticgreats/wag/kim_nelli.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227005926/http://www.gymn.ca/gymnasticgreats/wag/kim_nelli.htm |url-status=dead |title=Nellie Kim (URS) |archive-date=February 27, 2011}}</ref> Comăneci took over the media spotlight from gymnast [[Olga Korbut]], who had been the darling of the 1972 Munich Games.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nadia Comaneci Takes Gymnast Title on 4th, 5th Perfect Scores |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/22/archives/nadia-comaneci-takes-gymnast-title-on-4th-5th-perfect-scores-shes.html |access-date=January 8, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=July 22, 1976}}</ref>

Comăneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title. She also holds the record as the youngest ever Olympic gymnastics all-around champion at age 14. The sport has since raised its age-eligibility requirements so that gymnasts must be at least 16 in the same calendar year of the Olympics in order to compete. When Comăneci competed in 1976, gymnasts had only to be 14 by the first day of the competition.<ref>{{cite web |title=Within the International Federations |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1980/ore155/ORE155p.pdf |year=1980 |publisher=Olympic Review |access-date=June 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808171711/http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1980/ore155/ORE155p.pdf |archive-date=August 8, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Unless the age of eligibility is lowered, Comăneci's record cannot be broken.

She was ranked as the [[BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year|BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year]] for 1976<ref name="Dodd">{{cite web |url=http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/olympics/article.html?in_article_id=244046 |title=Top Five: Teenage Sensations |first=Marc |last=Dodd |work=[[Metro (Associated Metro Limited)|Metro]] |date=August 1, 2008 |access-date=January 11, 2009 |archive-date=September 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920003808/http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/extra/244046-top-five-teenage-sensations |url-status=dead}}</ref> and the [[Associated Press]]' 1976 "[[Associated Press Athlete of the Year|Female Athlete of the Year]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500051_761551983_-1_1/Associated_Press_Athletes_of_the_Year.html |title=Associated Press Athletes of the Year |publisher=MSN.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090407220626/http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500051_761551983_-1_1/Associated_Press_Athletes_of_the_Year.html |archive-date=April 7, 2009}}</ref> Back home in Romania, Comăneci was awarded the [[Hammer and sickle|Sickle and Hammer]] Gold Medal for her success,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lege5.ro/Gratuit/he2timjx/decretul-nr-250-1976-privind-conferirea-de-distinctii-ale-republicii-socialiste-romania-unor-sportivi-antrenori-si-activisti-din-domeniul-educatiei-fizice-si-sportului |title=Decretul nr. 250/1976 privind conferirea de distinctii ale Republicii Socialiste Romania unor sportivi, antrenori si activisti din domeniul educatiei fizice si sportului |language=ro |access-date=April 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411103930/https://lege5.ro/Gratuit/he2timjx/decretul-nr-250-1976-privind-conferirea-de-distinctii-ale-republicii-socialiste-romania-unor-sportivi-antrenori-si-activisti-din-domeniul-educatiei-fizice-si-sportului |archive-date=April 11, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and she was named a [[Hero of Socialist Labor]]. She was the youngest Romanian to receive such recognition during the administration of [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]].<ref name=Fischer/>

====="Nadia's Theme"=====
"[[Nadia's Theme]]" refers to an instrumental piece that became linked to Comăneci shortly after the 1976 Olympics. It was part of the musical score of the 1971 film ''[[Bless the Beasts and Children (film)|Bless the Beasts and Children]]'' and originally titled "Cotton's Dream". It was also used as the title theme music for the American soap opera ''[[The Young and the Restless]]''.

[[Robert Riger]] used it in association with slow-motion montages of Comăneci on the television program ''[[Wide World of Sports (U.S. TV series)|ABC's Wide World Of Sports]]''. The song became a top-10 single in the fall of 1976, and composers [[Barry De Vorzon]] and [[Perry Botkin Jr.]] renamed it as "Nadia's Theme" in Comăneci's honor.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080131081004/http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/profiles/bio_uk.asp?PAR_I_ID=44503 "Nadia Comăneci: The Perfect 10"] International Olympic Committee (IOC) website</ref> Comăneci never performed to "Nadia's Theme", however. Her floor exercise music was a medley of the songs "[[Yes Sir, That's My Baby (song)|Yes Sir, That's My Baby]]" and "[[Jump in the Line]]", arranged for piano.<ref name=si />

===1977–1979===
Comăneci successfully defended her European all-around title at the championship competition in 1977. When questions were raised at the competition about the scoring, Ceaușescu ordered the Romanian gymnasts to return home. The team followed orders amid controversy and walked out of the competition during the event finals.<ref name=Fischer/><ref>Comăneci, pp. 61–62.</ref>

Following the 1977 Europeans, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation removed Comăneci from her longtime coaches, the Károlyis, and sent her to [[Bucharest]] on August 23 to train at the sports complex. She did not find this change positive and was struggling with bodily changes as she grew older. Her gymnastics skills suffered, and she was unhappy to the point of losing the desire to live.<ref name=Fischer/><ref>Comăneci, pp. 64–68.</ref> After surviving a suicide attempt,<ref>{{cite web |title=Comaneci Confirms Suicide Attempt, Magazine Says |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-19-sp-869-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=February 19, 1990}}</ref> Comăneci competed in the [[1978 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1978 World Championships]] in [[Strasbourg]] "seven inches taller and a stone and a half [21 pounds] heavier" than she was in the 1976 Olympics.<ref name=guardian20111214/> A fall from the uneven bars resulted in a fourth-place finish in the all-around behind Soviets [[Elena Mukhina]], [[Nellie Kim]], and [[Natalia Shaposhnikova]]. Comăneci did win the world title on beam, and a silver on vault.<ref name=guardian20111214/>

After the 1978 "Worlds", Comăneci was permitted to return to Deva and the Károlyis' school.<ref>Comăneci, pp. 68–72.</ref> In 1979, Comăneci won her third consecutive European all-around title, becoming the first gymnast, male or female, to achieve this feat. At the [[1979 World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics|World Championships]] in [[Fort Worth]] that December, Comăneci led the field after the compulsory competition. She was hospitalized before the optional portion of the team competition for blood poisoning, which had resulted from a cut in her wrist from her metal grip buckle. Against doctors' orders, she left the hospital and competed on the beam, where she scored a 9.95. Her performance helped give the Romanians their first team gold medal. After her performance, Comăneci spent several days recovering in All Saints Hospital. She had to undergo a minor surgical procedure for the infected hand, which had developed an [[abscess]].<ref>[http://www.gymn-forum.net/Articles/Misc-Comaneci-1979.html "Nadia."] ''The Epistle,'' (All Saints Episcopal Hospital), January 1980.</ref><ref>Comăneci, pp. 87–91.</ref><ref>''Little Girls in Pretty Boxes.'' Ryan, Joan. 1995, Doubleday. {{ISBN|0-385-47790-2}}.</ref>

===1980–1984===

====1980 Summer Olympics====
[[File:Nadia Comăneci Moscow1980.jpeg|thumb|upright|left|Comăneci in Moscow, 1980]]
Comăneci was chosen to participate in the [[1980 Summer Olympics]] in [[Moscow#Soviet era (1917–1991)|Moscow]]. As a result of the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]], [[President of the United States|President]] [[Jimmy Carter]] declared that the United States would [[1980 Summer Olympics boycott|boycott the Olympics]] (several other countries also participated in the boycott, though their reasons varied). According to Comăneci, the Romanian government "touted the 1980 Olympic games as the first all-Communist Games." However, she also noted in her memoir, "in Moscow, we walked into the mouth of a lion's den; it was the Russians' home turf."<ref>Comăneci, p. 98.</ref> She won two gold medals, one for the [[Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Women's balance beam|balance beam]] and one for the [[Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Women's floor|floor exercise]] (in which she tied with Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim, against whom she had also competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and other events). She also won two silver medals, one for [[Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic team all-around|the team all-around]] and one for [[Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic individual all-around|individual all-around]]. Controversies arose concerning the scoring in the all-around and floor exercise competitions.{{r|guardian20111214}} As of the [[2020 Summer Games]], she is the only gymnast to defend her Olympic gold medal in the balance beam apparatus.

Her coach, Bela Károlyi, protested that she was scored unfairly. His protests were captured on television. According to Comăneci's memoir, the Romanian government was upset about Károlyi's public behavior, feeling that he had humiliated them. Life became very difficult for Károlyi from that point on.<ref>Comăneci, pp. 99–105.</ref>

===="Nadia '81"====
[[File:Nadia Comăneci Moscow1980c.jpg|thumb|upright|Comăneci on the [[balance beam]], 1980]]

In 1981, the Gymnastics Federation contacted Comăneci and informed her that she would be part of an official tour of the United States named "Nadia '81" and her coaches [[Béla Károlyi|Béla]] and [[Márta Károlyi]] would lead the group. During this tour, Comăneci's team shared a bus trip with American gymnasts; it was the third time she had encountered Bart Conner. They had earlier met in 1976. She later remembered thinking, "Conner was cute. He bounced around the bus talking to everyone—he was incredibly friendly and fun."<ref>Comăneci, pp. 111–112.</ref>

The Károlyis [[Defection#International politics|defected]] on the last day of the tour, along with the Romanian team choreographer Géza Pozsár. Prior to defecting, Károlyi hinted a few times to Comăneci that he might attempt to do so and indirectly asked if she wanted to join him. At that time, she had no interest in defecting, and said she wanted to go home to Romania. After the defection of the Károlyis, life changed drastically for Comăneci in Romania, as she could not have predicted. Officials feared that she would also defect. Feeling she was a national asset, they strictly monitored her actions, refusing to allow her to travel outside the country.<ref name="p121">Comăneci, p. 121.</ref>

====1984 Summer Olympics====
The government did allow Comăneci to participate in the [[1984 Summer Olympics]] in [[Los Angeles]] as part of the Romanian delegation. Although a number of Communist nations [[1984 Summer Olympics boycott|boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics]] in a [[tit-for-tat]] against the U.S.-led boycott of the Olympics in Moscow four years before, Romania chose to participate. Comăneci later wrote in her memoir that many believed Romania went to the Olympics because an agreement had been made with the United States not to accept defectors. But Comăneci did not participate in the Games as a member of the Romanian team; she served as an observer. She was able to see Károlyi's new protégé, American gymnast [[Mary Lou Retton]], who won five medals, including one gold. The Romanian delegation did not allow her to talk with Károlyi and closely watched her the entire time.<ref>Comăneci, pp. 125–6.</ref>

====Retirement====
[[File:Nadia Comăneci 2016 stamp of Romania.jpg|thumb|right|A 2016 Romanian postage stamp showing Comăneci on the balance beam at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal]]
The Romanian government continued to restrict Comăneci from leaving Romania, aside from a few select trips to Moscow and Cuba. Throughout her career, she had been subjected to round-the-clock surveillance at the hands of the [[Securitate]] secret police.<ref name="El Pais">{{cite news |title=Everything the Romanian secret police knew about Nadia Comaneci |url=https://english.elpais.com/culture/2023-09-06/everything-the-romanian-secret-police-knew-about-nadia-comaneci.html |access-date=May 3, 2024 |work=El Pais}}</ref> She had started thinking about retiring a few years earlier, but her official retirement ceremony took place in Bucharest in 1984. It was attended by the chairman of the [[International Olympic Committee]].<ref name="Still A Perfect 10" />

Comăneci later wrote in her memoir:
<blockquote>Life took on a new bleakness. I was cut off from making the small amount of extra money that had really made a difference in my family's life. It was also insulting that a normal person in Romania had the chance to travel, whereas I could not ... when my gymnastics career was over, there was no longer any need to keep me happy. I was to do as I was instructed, just as I'd done my entire life…. If [[Béla Károlyi|Béla]] hadn't defected, I would still have been watched, but his defection brought a spotlight on my life, and it was blinding. I started to feel like a prisoner.<ref name="p121"/></blockquote>