In 1976, a 15 years old Romanian gymnast demonstrated that the organizers of the Summer Olympics from Montreal were not technically prepared to display perfection. Her name was Nadia Comaneci.

Nadia Comaneci was born in Onesti (that time named Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej) on the 12th of November of 1961. Her name was inspired by a Russian movie her mother was watching when she was pregnant and it can be translated as “hope” – one cannot imagine a more suitable name for the girl who, through her brilliant sports performances, gave hope to millions of people suffering the domination of the Communist regime.

Nadia entered gymnastics while she was still in kindergarten and, at the age of 6, she was discovered by Bela Karoly, the coach that would propel her to great successes and who would later emigrate in the USA, where he would also train important American gymnasts. The trainings were harsh, as some later accused Karoly, but Nadia didn’t have any problems adapting and, in 1970, she became the youngest ever to win the Romanian National Gymnastics Competition.

The turning point in the history of gymnastics at Montreal was prefaced by Nadia’s performances at the inaugural edition of the American Cup at Madison Square Garden in March 1976, when she received an unprecedented 10.0 at vault, which meant her jump had been perfect and no score deductions were required. Other impressive performances followed and United Press International named her “Female Athlete of the Year” for 1975.

Nadia’s exercise on uneven bars, during the team competition at the Summer Olympics in Montreal, in 1976 was scored at a 10.0. The moment was rather funny, as the scoreboards were not equipped such marks, so Nadia’s had to be presented as 1.00. The Romanian athlete was awarded with another six such scores and won the Gold medals for the all-round, beam, bar titles and a Bronze medal for the floor exercise. International recognition gathered immediately: for BBC, she was the Sports Personality of the Year in 1976, Female Athlete of the Year in 1976 (Associated Press) and she preserved the title awarded by the United Press International the previous year.

The Communist authorities didn’t miss the opportunities Nadia’s successes presented with and awarded her the title “Hero of Socialist Labor”, the youngest person ever to be offered such a distinction. Unfortunately, the authorities involved in her training and took her to Bucharest, without Bela Karoly. Her mind and body shape became far from excellent and, at the 1978 World Championships, she came in 4th at the all-round, fell during the uneven bars exercise, but won the Gold medal for the beam.

In 1979, she was back in business: she won her third consecutive all-round title, becoming the first gymnast ever to accomplish this and she attended the World Championships with a wrist cut and helped her team win the Gold medal. Nadia participated in the 1980 Olympics at Moscow and she was very close to defending her title in the all-round, as she came in second, after Yelena Davydova. She also won the Gold medals for beam and floor exercise (tied with Nellie Kim for this one).

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