Pause, rewind, play: At the Olympics, Nadia Comaneci gave perfection a new definition. While under his care, Comaneci was once reportedly rushed to hospital after drinking bleach. Comaneci competed until and fled Romania just before the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in She now lives in the United States. At the Olympics, Comaneci won gold medals for the balance beam and floor exercise. She retired from competition in and defected to the United States in Comaneci was discovered at the age of 6 by gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi later to become the Romanian national coach.
Comaneci thrilled the world at the Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada, where, at the age of 14, she became the first woman to score a perfect 10 in an Olympic gymnastics event. She received seven perfect scores and won three gold medals—for the uneven bars, balance beam and individual all-around—and a bronze medal for her floor exercise.
As part of the second-place Romanian national team, she won silver. Comaneci's performance at the Olympics redefined both her sport and audiences' expectations of female athletes. At the Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia, Comaneci won two gold, for the balance beam and floor exercise in which she tied with Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim ; and two silver medals, for the team competition and individual all-around.
He later led the nation's gymnastic program to its first World Championships. You know what I mean? It becomes much more important, and I appreciate it because I understand from a different view what it takes to do that. In the meantime, officials kept a watchful eye on her whereabouts, read her mail, and even tapped the phone in the eight-room house that had been provided for her and her family.
Although her fame gave her an easier life than most of her countrymen, Comaneci more and more thought about defecting. Finally, in late , the year-old found a way. She met Romanian-born Constantin Panait, a roofer who lived in Florida, and learned that he helped people escape to America.
Her mind made up, she told only her brother of her plans. She later said she was afraid her parents would have a heart attack if she told them. With five other Romanians, she made a dangerous six-hour walk through the cold of winter to the Hungarian border, where they were stopped by Hungarian police who immediately recognized Comaneci.
At first they asked her to stay in their country, but they did let her go on. The group headed for the Austrian border and the American Embassy. Soon they were on a plane to New York City. The former Olympic star arrived in the United States overweight and heavily made up. Americans were shocked at her appearance and rumors started to hit the press. They charged that Panait, who was now posing as her manager, was a married man with children and that Comaneci was having an affair with him.
She denied any such relationship and claimed that Panait was in fact controlling her life and her money and she felt helpless to escape from this new kind of bondage. Lucky for Comaneci, the world of gymnastic competitors is a tight community.
Some of her old friends, including Conner and former Romanian rugby coach Alexandru Stefu, living in Montreal, began to think that she was in trouble.
Stefu lured the elusive Panait, along with Comaneci, to a meeting, where she admitted that he was mistreating her. The next day, Panait disappeared with her money. It was a hard lesson, but she was free at last. Comaneci went to Montreal to live with Stefu and his family.
There she returned to gymnastic form and kept up her budding friendship with Conner, who was living in Norman, Oklahoma. When Stefu died in a snorkeling accident, Comaneci moved to Norman.
She lived with Paul Ziert, Conner's coach and a friend of her former coach, Bela Karolyi, and his family. Comaneci and Conner began dating, and together they performed in a number of gymnastic competitions. The academy had 37 coaches and 1, students.
Besides teaching and performing, Comaneci signed several product endorsement contracts. In , Conner proposed to her while the couple was in Amsterdam. In April of , they were married in an elaborate wedding in Bucharest, Romania, which Sports Illustrated described as "the gymnastics world's version of a royal wedding. Her mother had previously visited her in the United States. The government treated them like royalty Ceausescu had been killed in an overthrow of the Communist government shortly after Comaneci defected , and they were given the use of the Parliament House for the reception.
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