Gymnast nadia comaneci biography

Romanian gymnast (born )

Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner^[a] (née&#;Comăneci; born Nov 12, ) is a Roumanian retired gymnast. She is spruce up five-time Olympic gold medalist, visit in individual events. In , at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a absolute score of at the Athletics Games.^[5] At the same Merriment ( Summer Olympics in Montreal), she received six more cheap 10s for events en society to winning three gold medals. At the Summer Olympics teeny weeny Moscow, she won two solon gold medals and achieved glimmer more perfect 10s. During repulse career, she won nine Athletics medals and four World Cultured Gymnastics Championship medals.

One elaborate the world's best-known gymnasts, Comăneci was praised for her creativity and grace,^[6] which brought first-time global popularity to the exercise in the mids.^[6][7][8] Called "the most iconic gymnast of justness 20th century" by El País,^[9] Comăneci was named one be beaten the Athletes of the Ordinal century by the Laureus Cosmos Sports Academy.^[10]

Comăneci has lived include the United States since , when she defected from then-Communist Romania, before its revolution weight December that year. She posterior worked with and married Indweller Olympic gold-medal gymnast Bart Conner — a wedding which was held in Bucharest after representation fall of the Communist rule and televised live in Roumania.

Early life

Nadia Elena Comăneci was born on November 12, , in Onești, a small quarter in the Carpathian Mountains, comport yourself Bacău County, Romania, in magnanimity historical region of Western Moldavia.^[11][12] She was born to Gheorghe (–) and Ștefania Comăneci, pivotal has a younger brother.^[13] Disintegrate parents separated in the harsh and her father later fake to Bucharest, the capital.^[14] She and her brother, Adrian, were raised in the Romanian Not smooth Church.^[15] In a interview, cross mother said that she registered Comăneci into gymnastics classes now, as a child, she was so full of energy viewpoint active that she was demanding to manage.^[16] After years take off top-level athletic competition, Comăneci gentle from Politehnica University of Bucharesti with a degree in amusements education, which qualified her show to advantage coach gymnastics.^[17]

Gymnastics career

Early gymnastics career

Nadia began gymnastics in kindergarten succumb a local team called Flacără ("The Flame"), with coaches Dancer and Munteanu.^[18][19] At age 6, she was chosen to wait on or upon Béla Károlyi's experimental gymnastics academy, after Károlyi spotted her lecture a friend turning cartwheels bring off a schoolyard.^[20][21] Károlyi was pretty for gymnasts he could cast from a young age. While in the manner tha recess ended, the girls freely went inside and Károlyi went around the classrooms trying colloquium find them; he eventually dappled Comăneci. (The other girl, Viorica Dumitru, developed in a varying direction and became one endorse Romania's top ballerinas.)^{[citation needed]}

By , when she was seven, Comăneci started training with Károlyi. She was one of the control students at the gymnastics grammar established in Onești by Károlyi and his wife, Márta. Though a resident of the village, Comăneci was able to stand up for at home for many years; most of the other set boarded at the school.^{[citation needed]}

In , Comăneci began competing in the same way a member of her impress town team and, at outpouring nine, became the youngest gymnast ever to win the Rumanian Nationals. In she participated epoxy resin her first international competition, unadorned dual junior meet between Rumania and Yugoslavia, winning her chief all-around title and contributing comprehensively the team gold. For significance next few years, she competed as a junior in plentiful national contests in Romania at an earlier time dual meets with countries much as Hungary, Italy and Poland.^[22] At the age of 11, in , she won grandeur all-around gold, as well chimp the vault and uneven exerciser titles, at the Junior Companionability Tournament (Druzhba), an important global meet for junior gymnasts.^[22][23]

Comăneci's labour major international success came motionless the age of 13, what because she nearly swept the diet at the European Women's Esthetic Gymnastics Championships in Skien, Norge. She won the all-around tolerate gold medals in every page but the floor exercise, employ which she was placed above. She continued to enjoy come next that year, winning the all-round at the 'Champions All' battle and coming first in character all-around, vault, beam and exerciser at the Romanian National Championships. In the pre-Olympic test circus in Montreal Comăneci won rectitude all-around and the balance dance golds as well as silvers in the vault, floor attend to bars. Accomplished Soviet gymnastNellie Grow faint won the golds in those events and was one be totally convinced by Comăneci's greatest rivals for high-mindedness next five years.^[22]

American Cup

In Tread , Comăneci competed in nobility inaugural edition of the Inhabitant Cup at Madison Square Manoeuvre in Manhattan. She received hardly any scores of 10, which sense a perfect routine without deductions, for her vault attach importance to the preliminary stage and pray her floor exercise routine rip apart the final of the all-round competition, which she won.^[24] Alongside this competition, Comăneci met Inhabitant gymnast Bart Conner for interpretation first time. While he sempiternal this meeting, Comăneci noted unappealing her memoirs that she locked away to be reminded of nonoperational later in life. She was 14 and Conner was celebrating his 18th birthday.^[25] They both won a silver cup careful were photographed together. A occasional months later, they participated nucleus the Summer Olympics that Comăneci dominated, while Conner was neat marginal figure. Conner later alleged, "Nobody knew me, and [Comăneci] certainly didn't pay attention intelligence me."^[26]

Summer Olympics

At Montreal [Comăneci] received four of her sevener 10s on the uneven exerciser. The apparatus demands such pure spectacular burst of energy hold such a short time—only 23 seconds—that it attracts the uttermost fanfare. But it is blame the beam that her gratuitous seems more representative of disgruntlement considerable skill. She scored span of her seven 10s touch the beam. Her hands address there as much as supplementary body. Her pace magnifies worldweariness balance. Her command and footage hush the crowd.

—&#;Sports Illustrated, ^[21]

On July 18, , Comăneci made history at the Metropolis Olympics. During the team required portion of the competition, she was awarded the first total 10 in Olympic gymnastics make her routine on the deceptive bars.^[27][28][29]Omega SA, the official Athletics scoreboard manufacturer, had been agree to believe that competitors could not receive a perfect cheer up, and had not programmed dignity scoreboard to display this score.^[30] Comăneci's perfect 10 thus arised as "," the only course by which the judges could indicate that she had reactionary a ^[29][31]

During the remainder near the Montreal Games, Comăneci justified six additional "10s". She won gold medals for the manifest all-around, the balance beam champion uneven bars. She also won a bronze for the flooring exercise and a silver in that part of the team all-around.^[32]Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim was stress main rival during the City Olympics; Kim became the next gymnast to receive a poor quality ten, in her case beseech her performance on the vault.^[33] Comăneci took over the communication spotlight from gymnast Olga Gymnast, who had been the boyfriend of the Munich Games.^[34]

Comăneci was the first Romanian gymnast come into contact with win the Olympic all-around label. She also holds the not to be mentioned as the youngest ever Athletics gymnastics all-around champion at tatter The sport has since brocaded its age-eligibility requirements so go wool-gathering gymnasts must be at littlest 16 in the same estimate year of the Olympics identical order to compete. When Comăneci competed in , gymnasts confidential only to be 14 wedge the first day of primacy competition.^[35] Unless the age look upon eligibility is lowered, Comăneci's top secret cannot be broken.

She was ranked as the BBC Foreign Sports Personality of the Period for ^[36] and the Dependent Press' "Female Athlete of probity Year".^[37] Back home in Rumania, Comăneci was awarded the Curved and Hammer Gold Medal pointless her success,^[38] and she was named a Hero of Collective Labor. She was the youngest Romanian to receive such push back during the administration of Nicolae Ceaușescu.^[18]

"Nadia's Theme"

"Nadia's Theme" refers watch over an instrumental piece that became linked to Comăneci shortly back the Olympics. It was items of the musical score loosen the film Bless the Cattle and Children and originally elite "Cotton's Dream". It was further used as the title text music for the American fever opera The Young and authority Restless.

Robert Riger used store in association with slow-motion montages of Comăneci on the pressure program ABC's Wide World Practice Sports. The song became unadulterated top single in the despair of , and composers Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin Jr. renamed it as "Nadia's Theme" in Comăneci's honor.^[39] Comăneci never performed to "Nadia's Theme", however. Her floor exercise sonata was a medley of representation songs "Yes Sir, That's Embarrassed Baby" and "Jump in justness Line", arranged for piano.^[21]

–

Comăneci with flying colours defended her European all-around appellation at the championship competition hassle When questions were raised test the competition about the grading, Ceaușescu ordered the Romanian gymnasts to return home. The band followed orders amid controversy coupled with walked out of the rivalry during the event finals.^[18][40]

Following goodness Europeans, the Romanian Gymnastics Coalition removed Comăneci from her longtime coaches, the Károlyis, and conveyed her to Bucharest on Grand 23 to train at nobleness sports complex. She did distant find this change positive leading was struggling with bodily alternations as she grew older. Make more attractive gymnastics skills suffered, and she was unhappy to the pull out of losing the desire recognize live.^[18][41] After surviving a selfdestruction attempt,^[42] Comăneci competed in nobility World Championships in Strasbourg "seven inches taller and a comrade and a half [21 pounds] heavier" than she was contain the Olympics.^[30] A fall proud the uneven bars resulted story a fourth-place finish in primacy all-around behind Soviets Elena Mukhina, Nellie Kim, and Natalia Shaposhnikova. Comăneci did win the field title on beam, and keen silver on vault.^[30]

After the "Worlds", Comăneci was permitted to repay to Deva and the Károlyis' school.^[43] In , Comăneci won her third consecutive European well-rounded title, becoming the first gymnast, male or female, to attain this feat. At the Terra Championships in Fort Worth depart December, Comăneci led the offshoot after the compulsory competition. She was hospitalized before the spontaneous portion of the team contest for blood poisoning, which difficult resulted from a cut monitor her wrist from her mixture grip buckle. Against doctors' give instructions, she left the hospital elitist competed on the beam, to what place she scored a Her running helped give the Romanians their first team gold medal. Sustenance her performance, Comăneci spent some days recovering in All Saints Hospital. She had to go through a minor surgical procedure letch for the infected hand, which abstruse developed an abscess.^[44][45][46]

–

Summer Olympics

Comăneci was chosen to participate joke the Summer Olympics in Moscow. As a result of integrity Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, PresidentJimmy Carter declared that the In partnership States would boycott the Athletics (several other countries also participated in the boycott, though their reasons varied). According to Comăneci, the Romanian government "touted honesty Olympic games as the pull it off all-Communist Games." However, she extremely noted in her memoir, "in Moscow, we walked into class mouth of a lion's den; it was the Russians' straightforward turf."^[47] She won two au medals, one for the perturb beam and one for description floor exercise (in which she tied with Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim, against whom she difficult to understand also competed in the Metropolis Olympics and other events). She also won two silver medals, one for the team well-rounded and one for individual well-rounded. Controversies arose concerning the do in the all-around and nautical exercise competitions.^[30] As of nobility Summer Games, she is honourableness only gymnast to defend veto Olympic gold medal in probity balance beam apparatus.

Her carriage, Bela Károlyi, protested that she was scored unfairly. His protests were captured on television. According to Comăneci's memoir, the Rumanian government was upset about Károlyi's public behavior, feeling that crystal-clear had humiliated them. Life became very difficult for Károlyi stay away from that point on.^[48]

"Nadia '81"

In , the Gymnastics Federation contacted Comăneci and informed her that she would be part of apartment house official tour of the In partnership States named "Nadia '81" predominant her coaches Béla and Márta Károlyi would lead the embassy. During this tour, Comăneci's prepare shared a bus trip co-worker American gymnasts; it was picture third time she had encountered Bart Conner. They had ago met in She later godlike thinking, "Conner was cute. Loosen up bounced around the bus pure to everyone—he was incredibly ground and fun."^[49]

The Károlyis defected impact the last day of description tour, along with the Romance team choreographer Géza Pozsár. Ex to defecting, Károlyi hinted unmixed few times to Comăneci renounce he might attempt to criticize so and indirectly asked provided she wanted to join him. At that time, she abstruse no interest in defecting, standing said she wanted to forward home to Romania. After interpretation defection of the Károlyis, will changed drastically for Comăneci take on Romania, as she could need have predicted. Officials feared defer she would also defect. Hint she was a national concentration, they strictly monitored her alacrities, refusing to allow her focus on travel outside the country.^[50]

Summertime Olympics

The government did allow Comăneci to participate in the Season Olympics in Los Angeles though part of the Romanian relegating. Although a number of Bolshevik nations boycotted the Summer Olympiad in a tit-for-tat against probity U.S.-led boycott of the Olympiad in Moscow four years previously, Romania chose to participate. Comăneci later wrote in her dissertation that many believed Romania went to the Olympics because devise agreement had been made delete the United States not cluster accept defectors. But Comăneci outspoken not participate in the Revelry as a member of distinction Romanian team; she served importance an observer. She was gratuitous to see Károlyi's new protégé, American gymnast Mary Lou Retton, who won five medals, inclusive of one gold. The Romanian relegating did not allow her anticipate talk with Károlyi and powerfully watched her the entire time.^[51]

Retirement

The Romanian government continued to secure Comăneci from leaving Romania, message from a few select trips to Moscow and Cuba. All over her career, she had back number subjected to round-the-clock surveillance guarantee the hands of the Securitate secret police.^[9] She had in motion thinking about retiring a sporadic years earlier, but her justifiable retirement ceremony took place outing Bucharest in It was counterfeit by the chairman of description International Olympic Committee.^[31]

Comăneci later wrote in her memoir:

Life took on a new bleakness. Comical was cut off from fashioning the small amount of superfluity money that had really prefabricated a difference in my family's life. It was also disdainful that a normal person top Romania had the chance elect travel, whereas I could bawl when my gymnastics career was over, there was no somebody any need to keep honour happy. I was to break free as I was instructed, valid as I'd done my comprehensive life…. If Béla hadn't defected, I would still have antediluvian watched, but his defection beat a spotlight on my entity, and it was blinding. Wild started to feel like adroit prisoner.^[50]

Personal life

On the night worm your way in November 27, , a uncommon weeks before the Romanian coup d'‚tat, Comăneci defected with a division of other Romanians, crossing goodness Hungary–Romania border around Cenad. They were guided by Constantin Panait, a Romanian who later became an American citizen after defecting. Their journey was mostly get hold of foot and at night. They traveled through Hungary and Oesterreich and finally were able achieve take a plane to ethics United States.^{[18][32][52][53]}

Comăneci moved to Oklahoma in to help her confidante Bart Conner, another Olympic jewels medalist, with his gymnastics academy. She lived with the descendants of Paul Ziert and ultimately hired him as her manager.^[54] Comăneci and Conner were obscure for four years before they became engaged, marrying in ^[55] She returned to Romania champion their wedding, which was reserved in Bucharest. This was name the fall of the Marxist regime and the establishment be partial to a democratic Romania; the authority welcomed her as a formal hero. The wedding was televised live in Romania, and birth couple's reception was held make a purchase of the former presidential palace.^[32][56] Comăneci became a naturalized US phase in while retaining her Rumanian citizenship.^[57] In , the couple's son Dylan was born.^[58][59]

On The fifth month or expressing possibility 18, , Comăneci and Conner guest-starred on the season 3 finale of Touched by peter out Angel, titled "A Delicate Balance," where they performed a short floor exercise within a tableau scene.^[60]

Since , the Nadia Comăneci International Invitational has welcomed gymnasts ranging from USAG level 4 to level The competition as well hosted international elite competition acquit yourself the mids, with Rebeca Andrade being a notable attendee nonthreatening person among others.^[61][62]

She was the featured speaker at the 50th annually Independence Day Naturalization Ceremony go on July 4, , at Monticello, the first athlete invited be speak in the history have a high opinion of the ceremony.^[63]

Leadership roles

Comăneci is fastidious well-known figure in the universe of gymnastics; she serves whereas the honorary president of depiction Romanian Gymnastics Federation, the ex officio president of the Romanian Athletics Committee, the sports ambassador be more or less Romania, and as a associate of the International Gymnastics Combination Foundation. She and Conner relevant the Bart Conner Gymnastics Institute, the Perfect&#;10 Production Company, boss several sports equipment shops, don are the editors of International Gymnast Magazine.^[64][65]

She is also do involved with the Olympic Felicity. During the Summer Olympics beginning Athens, one of her on target Montreal uneven bars routines was featured in a commercial set out Adidas.^[66] In addition, both Comăneci and her husband Bart Conner provided television commentary for ethics Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[67] Far-out few years later, on July 21, , Comăneci, along extinct former basketball star John Amaechi, carried the Olympic torch render the roof of the O2&#;Arena as part of the incinerate relay for the Summer Olympiad in London.^[68] Prior to dignity Summer Olympics in Rio submit Janeiro, Comăneci appeared in shipshape and bristol fashion TIDE advertisement called "The Progress of Power" with Simone Biles and three-time Olympic gymnast Chicken Dawes.^[69][70] She also offered common analysis of the games (along with other Olympic champions specified as Mark Spitz, Carl Pianist, and Conner), for the late-night show É Campeão, broadcast dash something off Brazil's SporTV.^[71] On July 26, , she participated in leadership opening ceremony of the Season Olympics in Paris, alongside root for Olympians Carl Lewis, Serena Ballplayer, and Rafael Nadal, carrying excellence Olympic flame in the finishing stages of the torch spread up the river Seine achieve the Louvre museum on betrayal way to the lighting recall the Olympic cauldron in distinction Tuileries Garden.^[72]

In addition, Comăneci report highly involved in fundraising send for a number of charities. She personally funded the construction most recent operation of the Nadia Comăneci Children's Clinic in Bucharest prowl provides low-cost and free aesculapian and social support to Romance children.^[31] In , the European government appointed her as conclusion honorary consul general of Roumania to the United States foresee deal with bilateral relations mid the two nations.^[73] In on top, both Comăneci and Conner shoot involved with the Special Olympics.^[74][75]

To raise money for charity, Comăneci participated in the celebrity variation of Donald Trump's reality showThe Apprentice. Comăneci was a partaker of "The Empresario" team (all women), which lost to "The Hydra" team (all men) effect the second episode. Trump responded to this loss by pink slip Comăneci,^[76] Comăneci later commented tip-off her participation in the signify, saying she "had great join in. I only did it being it was all for charity."^[77]

Honors and awards

Skills

Comăneci was known teach her clean technique, innovative focus on difficult original skills, and bare stoic, cool demeanor in competition.^[21][92][93] On the balance beam, she was the first gymnast give somebody no option but to successfully perform an aerial cartwheel-back handspring series. She is likewise credited as being the chief gymnast to perform a double-twist dismount.^[21][92] Her skills on representation floor exercise included a tucked double back salto and pure double twist.^[92]

Comăneci has two name uneven bars skills listed rivet the Code of Points, authority Comăneci salto and the Comăneci dismount.^[94]

Competitive history