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Nadia´s birth
Nadia Elena Comăneci was born on November 12, 1961, in Onești, which is a small town in the Carpathian Mountains, in Bacău County, Romania, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. -
Nadia starts in gymnastics
Comăneci began gymnastics in kindergarten with a local team called Flacăra ("The Flame"), with coaches Duncan and Munteanu. At age 6, she was chosen to attend Béla Károlyi's experimental gymnastics school after Károlyi spotted a friend and her turning cartwheels in a schoolyard. -
Nadia´s fathers
Comăneci was born to Gheorghe and Ștefania Comăneci, and has a younger brother. Her parents separated in the 1970s, and her father later moved to Bucharest. -
First competitions
In 1970, she began competing as a member of her hometown team, and became the youngest gymnast ever to win the Romanian Nationals -
First International Competition
In 1971, she participated in her first international competition, a dual junior meet between Romania and Yugoslavia, winning her first all-around title and contributing to the team gold. For the next few years, she competed as a junior in numerous national contests in Romania and dual meets with countries such as Hungary, Italy, and Poland -
Junior Friendship Tournament
At the age of 11, in 1973, she won the all-around gold, as well as the vault and uneven bars titles, at the Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba), an important international meet for junior gymnasts. -
She ascends
Comăneci's first major international success came at the age of 13, when she nearly swept the 1975 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Skien, Norway, winning the all-around and gold medals on every event but the floor exercise, in which she placed second. She continued to enjoy success that year, winning the all-around at the "Champions All" competition and placing first in the all-around, vault, beam, and bars at the Romanian National Championships. -
Pre- Olympics
In the pre-Olympic test event in Montreal, Comăneci won the all-around and the balance beam golds, as well as silvers in the vault, floor, and bars behind accomplished Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim, who was one of her greatest rivals over the next five years. -
The Perfect 10
On July 18, Comăneci made history at the 1976 Summer Olympics, when during the team compulsory portion of the competition, she was awarded the first perfect 10 in gymnastics for her routine on the uneven bars. However, Omega SA—the traditional Olympics scoreboard manufacturer— was led to believe that it was impossible to receive a perfect ten, thus the scoreboard was not programmed to display that score. -
Change Coaches
Following the 1977 Europeans, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation removed Comăneci from her longtime coaches, the Károlyis, and sent her to Bucharest on August 23 to train at the sports complex. The change was not positive for Comăneci. She was extremely unhappy and her gymnastics suffered. -
World Championships
At the age of 16, Comăneci competed in the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg "seven inches taller and a stone and a half heavier" than she was in the 1976 Olympics. A fall from the uneven bars resulted in a fourth-place finish in the all-around behind Soviets Elena Mukhina, Nellie Kim, and Natalia Shaposhnikova. Comăneci did win the world title on beam, and a silver on vault. -
European all-around title
In 1979, Comăneci won her third consecutive European all-around title, becoming the first gymnast, male or female, to achieve this feat. -
Injury
At the World Championships in Fort Worth that December, Comăneci led the field after the compulsory competition, but was hospitalized before the optional portion of the team competition for blood poisoning caused by a cut in her wrist from her metal grip buckle. -
Summer Olympics in Moscow
Comăneci was chosen to participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, a city that was part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Soviet Union) at that time.She went on to win two gold medals, one for the balance beam and one for the floor exercise . She also won two silver medals, one for the team all-around and one for individual all-around. Controversies arose concerning the scoring in the all-around and floor exercise competitions. -
Nadia knows her future husband
In 1981, the Gymnastics Federation contacted Comăneci and informed her that she would be part of an official tour of the United States named "Nadia '81" and her coaches Béla and Márta Károlyi would lead the group. During this tour, Comăneci's team shared a bus trip with American gymnasts, thus allowing her to meet Bart Conner for the third time. -
1984 Summer Olympics
The one exception to Comăneci's travel ban was the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles as part of the Romanian delegation. Although a number of Communist nations had boycotted the 1984 Olympics in tit-for-tat to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Romania chose to participate. Comăneci later wrote in her memoir that many believed Romania went to the Olympics because an agreement had been made with the United States not to accept defectors. -
Gymnastics Removal
In 1984 it withdrew from the active competition to become coach of the Romanian team, first, and of the Canadian, then. -
Nadia in Romanian Revolution
On the night of November 27, 1989, and a few weeks before the Romanian Revolution, which she had no idea was about to happen, Comăneci defected with a group of other Romanians. They were all guided by Constantin Panait, a Romanian who was now an American citizen after defecting, and whom Comăneci had met at a party given by one of her friends. Comăneci notes in her memoir that her first impression of Panait was a positive one as "he was believable because he was now an American. -
Nadia in 1990
In the spring of 1990, Conner traveled to Montreal to see her once again, this time to interview her for ABC. A few months later, Stefu surprised Comăneci by inviting Conner to her 29th birthday party, after which they developed a long-distance friendship for a few years. -
Nadia and Bart's wedding
Initially just friends, Conner and she were together for four years before they become engaged. Their 1996 wedding was held in Bucharest. It was televised live throughout Romania, and their reception was held in the former presidential palace. -
Nadia became a US citizen
Comăneci is a dual citizen of both Romania and the United States -
Appears in a commercial of the Olympic Games
She is also still involved with the Olympic Games. During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, one of her perfect-10 Montreal uneven bars routines was featured in a commercial for Adidas. -
Nadia and Bart' s son
In 2006, Conner and Comăneci had a son, Dylan -
50th annual Independence Day Naturalization Ceremony
She was later the featured speaker at the 50th annual Independence Day Naturalization Ceremony on July 4, 2012, at Monticello (Virginia), the first athlete to speak in the history of the ceremony. -
Place Nadia Comaneci
In October 2017, an area in the Olympic Park in Montreal, Canada that was once referred to as "The Place des Vainqueurs," was renamed "Place Nadia Comaneci" in her honour.
