Gymnast Comaneci still the star 40 years after making Olympic history

Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci. (Photo courtesy of Comaneci’s official Facebook page)

MONTREAL—Every time she visits Montreal, Nadia Comaneci gets to relive her historic performance at the 1976 Olympics.

This time was a little different. It was the 40th anniversary of the Games that turned the then-ponytailed 14-year-old Romanian gymnast into an international star.

“Celebrating 40 years since the 10 is very emotional,” Comaneci said Thursday. “It feels like it was in a different lifetime for me when I watch me when I was 14.

“I didn’t understand what happened at the time because I was too young. As time goes by, I treasure what happened more and more and I realize it was a really big deal what happened. I didn’t know it then.”

The “10” was a reference to her performance on the uneven bars, when she became the first gymnast to post a perfect score. The clock at Montreal Forum where gymnastics was held didn’t have room for it, so it was posted as 1.00.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBrwQ7-I6t8]

Comaneci ended up with seven 10s while winning three gold medals—for the bars, the balance beam and the overall title—as well as a bronze medal in the floor exercises.

And she became the unchallenged star of the Games, winning over fans around the world. She was named world athlete of the year in the United States and Britain. Back home in Romania, she was named Hero of Socialist Labour by the then-Communist government.

She was the youngest gymnast ever to win gold, a record that will stand because there has since been a rule change barring athletes from competing before the year in which they turn 16. Her Olympic gold collection grew to five when she won the beam and floor events at the 1980 Games in Moscow.

“When I was 14 I had no pressure,” she said. “I was a kid.

“I didn’t understand all the attention. When I went to the Moscow Games I felt the pressure as an 18-year-old because I was an adult and I understood I was a former Olympic champion and I have to defend my title.”

The 54-year-old Comaneci, accompanied by her husband, former U.S. gymnast Bart Conner and their 10-year-old son Dylan, toured an exhibit of the 1976 Games at Olympic Stadium and visited other sites, although none are new to her.

After defecting in 1989, Comaneci spent a year and half in Montreal before moving to Norman, Okla., to live and work with Conner, a 1984 Olympic gold medallist who runs a gymnastics academy. They also both do television commentary and will be headed to the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

“I used to live here so I was very happy to be back,” she said. “I had a lot of friends and there’s a big Romanian community here, so it felt absolutely like home.”

Looking back at the 1976 Games, she said “it changed my life because I’m here and look how many of you (reporters) came.

“I didn’t do it to change my life. It just happened. I didn’t come to Montreal to make history because I didn’t know I was going to make history. I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time but I look later at what I’ve done and yes, it is a big deal.”

She declined to answer questions about Russia’s possible ban from competing in Rio, saying she doesn’t know enough about it to comment. But when asked if the doping scandal may overshadow the Rio Games, she said.

“I hope not. It’s something that everybody has to deal with. It’s a real thing. We want to see good sports and clean athletes.”