“I was told a 10.00 is not possible,” said Daniel Baumat, the then director of Omega, who were the official scorekeepers of the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
It is this rigid belief that would be pierced by a vibrant 14-year-old kid called Nadia Comaneci who defied logic and the long established notion and came up with something that left the world stunned and stupefied. The International Olympic Committee had informed Omega prior to the Olympics that a four digit score would not be required as it wasn’t possible to achieve. But Nadia, the Romanian wunderkind simply did something that no other gymnast had ever done at the Olympics before. It’s been 37 years since that historic day of 18th July, 1976 when Comaneci rewrote history books, but Nadia’s sizzling effort of a perfect 10 still marvels sports enthusiasts all over the globe.
Born to car mechanic Gheorghe and his wife ?tefania-Alexandrina Com?neci, a factory worker in 1961 in Onesti, Romania, Nadia got her name from Nadya, the abbreviated form of the Russian name Nadezhda, which means ‘hope’. Perhaps, her mother who was inspired to christen her Nadia foresaw that she was the beacon of hope that could permeate into the dominating world of the Soviet gymnasts and spellbind millions with her magical skills.
She was thrust into the world of gymnastics at the tender age of three and then began training at a local gym club called The Flame. But she was Destiny’s Child. At the age of 6, Bela Karolyi, a gymnastics coach of Hungarian origin, sought her from her school, and she began commuting from her home to attend the new Gymnastics High School.
Bela, a former junior boxing champion, had also dabbled in hammer-throwing. But gymastics coaching is what would take him to the pinnacle of glory. The training regimen was demanding and sometimes even merciless, but Nadia, the diligent pupil, pulled through and sprouted into a gem. At the age of just eight, she stirred attention by finishing 13th in the Romanian National Championships. It was only the tasty starter to a delectable career that the world would be talking about for decades. Nadia quickly became the cynosure of all eyes as she swept the Romanian Nationals the very next year and became the youngest gymnast to do so.
Nadia was a crouching tiger in that diminutive figure. She had fierce competitive spirit that shone brightly in her eyes and had an insatiable hunger that would keep her going. And yet, when she would take the stage, she would be so gentle and subtle that it would transfix her admirers. It is this uncanny ability that made her who she is.
And this was what made her take the big leap into the senior level in 1975 at an age of 13. The competition surely got tougher, but Comaneci remained unperturbed. The 1975 European Championships totally belonged to her as she scooped up gold medals in every event except the floor. The precocious Romanian continued her incredible upward surge delving into the world of perfection for the first time at the inaugural American Cup held at Madison Square Garden in March, 1976.
It was a performance of sheer artistry on the floor. Her fluidity, balance and flexibility left gymnastics aficionados craving for more. What was more noteworthy was the majestic height the 14-year-old would attain in those days where the floor exercises would be performed on the mat without any spring floor. She went on to score another perfect 10 in the vault category.
But all these were the crescendo leading to an unbelievable summer in Montreal. The 4ft 11in tall girl enraptured audiences all over the globe with her unsullied, graceful and effortless presentations. The exuberant girl owned the uneven bars on July 18, exhibiting incredible rhythm, balance, poise and pace. People tuning into the Montreal Olympics were left in awe.
When the scoreboard displayed 1.00, spectators were baffled but they soon understood they had witnessed history – Olympics had seen a perfect 10 score in gymnastics for the very first time! The rousing ovation didn’t throw her off the track as she continued to mesmerise Montreal with six more perfect 10 scores. Com?neci would end her magical sojourn in Canada by being the first Romanian gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title.
Nadia went on to receive numerous accolades, but unfortunately she could never reproduce this string of continued unbelievable performances. She was separated from her devoted coach in 1977 and put under the tutelage of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation. Her parents’ divorce too compounded her misery. Struggling with her fitness, Nadia went on to lose her inner peace and happiness, which would be exuded in her shaky displays.
Reunion with Karolyi would materializs in European glory in 1979, but illness and an infected hand would mar her efforts at the World Championships. By that time, retirement had already crossed her mind once. In spite of looking terribly emaciated, Nadia would still show amazing spirit to compete at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. But things were not smooth in Moscow. She couldn’t reproduce the mind-blowing perfection anymore and heated arguments amongst the judges over the scores ultimately led her to finish with two golds on the balance beam and floor and two silvers in the team and all-around categories.
She ultimately retired at the age of 22 in 1984 after having to endure her coach’s defection. Comaneci now leads a happy life in the USA with her husband, American gymnastics gold medalist Bart Conner. Together they run the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy besides dabbling in editing and commentary.
Gymnastics rules were altered since then, and it is no more possible to compete at the age of 14 nor is it possible to score a perfect 10 following changes in the scoring system. Comaneci’s marvelous achievements would thus never be replicated or broken and she rightfully remains as the deserving owner of a perfect record in Olympics.
The tremendous fearlessness that she showed at such a young age would perhaps remain unrivalled forever. Nadia puts it the best in her own words – “I don’t run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your foot”.
Indeed she did crush it with authority and her inner joy in doing so was manifested in her confident strides in the gymnastics world!
