Nadia Comaneci
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She’s now become iconic for her ‘Perfect 10’ finish, and Nadia Comaneci is widely considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. Romanian-born Comaneci trained as a gymnast as a young child, participating in the Romanian National Championships in 1969 aged only 8..
At 13-years-old, Comaneci nearly took a clean sweep at the 1975 European Championships in Norway, winning gold in every event except the floor exercise, where she won silver. That year was a particularly strong one for Comaneci, who also won top prizes at the Romanian National Championships. At the American Cup of that year, Comaneci first won her now-famous ‘perfect 10’ – scores with no deductions – on the vaults and uneven bars.
It was the following year – 1976 – that saw Comaneci catapulted to international renown. Participating in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada, the Romanian gymnast again pulled off a perfect ten in the uneven bars, for the first time in the history of the modern Olympics. It had been so unexpected that the scoreboard was not equipped to display the score.
She eventually won six perfect ten scores across events in Montreal, ending those Olympics with 3 gold medals, a silver and a bronze.
Comaneci was 15 years old at the time.
She would eventually defect to Montreal and then the United States, where she currently resides.
