Editing Nadia Comăneci (section)

===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>