Few things can be more revealing about the status of an individual in sport than that they became universally recognisable simply by their first name.
No one can ever better her. She even won her battle with the repressive forces of the Soviet Union. Now Comaneci enjoys the benefits of a new life, and never stops giving back
Few things can be more revealing about the status of an individual in sport than that they became universally recognisable simply by their first name.
The Romanian Nadia Comaneci was one of them. Ever since the day in Montreal in 1976, when the 14-year old gymnast competed in the uneven bars, she has held a unique place in her sport.
She maintains that she thought her routine had scored just one point after seeing the judges posted scores, but this mistake is now almost as famous as her routine-the scoreboards were just not equipped for her perfect score of ten.
Her profile instantly soared into the stratosphere, and her position as a gymnastics icon has remained unchallenged since that day.
Nadia’s career was always caught up with the realities of her life behind the Iron Curtain.
On her return from Montreal, she was immediately paraded as a heroine of the then Soviet Romania, and the constant supply of official banquets and celebrations she was required to attend ate into her practice time, seriously hampering her career.
As the trend for Soviet sports stars defecting to the West to enjoy the trappings of fame and fortune took hold, Nadia’s movements became strictly monitored, and she was confined to a job of coaching the Romanian gymnastics youth.
She finally managed to defect herself in November of 1989, and moved to the USA.
Her new life followed in the trend of famous sports stars in a free economy, namely that of promoting and modelling sportswear. Alongside a few gymnastics specific brands, her most famous work was modelling Jockey underwear.
She also found time to become engaged to the American gymnast Bart Conner, and this led to perhaps her greatest moment.
In 1996, she celebrated the fall of communism in Romania by returning there for the first time since her defection, and marrying Conner in Bucharest, before a live television audience.
The task of rebuilding Romania post-Communism was one in which she has found herself playing a major role. The Romanian gymnastics establishment is now synonymous with the name Comaneci.
She holds posts as the Honorary President of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, the Honorary President of Romanian Olympic Committee, and is an Ambassador of Sports of Romania.
She also finds time to help her husband set up his eponymous gymnastics academy, and edits International Gymnast magazine, as well as managing a chain of gymnastics equipment shops.
She is also involved with several charities, the most prominent work coming in the service of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Serious faced and classically Soviet in gravity during her career, Nadia may have given off the impression of being no fun in the past.
She has gone some way towards countering this in recent times.
Her appearance in the knockabout US game show 1 vs 100 reintroduced her to a new generation of Americans, and her general knowledge proved impressive.
Her latest stab is a move into the professional recording world. Her song is part of Romania’s long running Music Box series.
Few have heard it outside her native land, but reports suggest it is somewhat further away from perfection than her gymnastics.
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