Editing Nadia Comăneci (section)

=== 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]]