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Nadia Comăneci

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             Olympic medalist
                  Center
   Nadia Comăneci
               Medal record
       Women's Artistic Gymnastics
    Gold  1976 Montreal    All-around
    Gold  1976 Montreal   Uneven bars
    Gold  1976 Montreal   Balance beam
    Gold   1980 Moscow    Balance beam
    Gold   1980 Moscow   Floor exercise
   Silver 1976 Montreal Team competition
   Silver  1980 Moscow  Team competition
   Silver  1980 Moscow     All-around
   Bronze 1976 Montreal  Floor exercise

   Nadia Elena Comaneci (originally Comăneci /ko.mə'neʧʲ/) (born November
   12, 1961) is a Romanian gymnast, winner of five Olympic gold medals,
   and the first to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic
   gymnastic event. She is one of the most well-known gymnasts in the
   world and, along with Olga Korbut, is credited with popularizing the
   sport around the world.

Early life

   Comaneci was born in Oneşti, Romania, on 12 November 1961 as the
   daughter of Gheorghe and Ştefania-Alexandrina. Comaneci's pregnant
   mother was watching a Russian film in which the heroine was called
   Nadya, the shortened version of the Russian name Nadyezhda (which
   means, literally, "Hope"). She decided that her daughter would be named
   Nadia, too. Comaneci has a younger brother named Adrian.

Early gymnastics career

   Comaneci began gymnastics at the age of 6, after coach Béla Károlyi
   spotted her and a friend turning cartwheels in a schoolyard. She was
   one of the first students at the gymnastics school established in
   Onesti by Béla and his wife, Marta, who would later defect to the
   United States and become coaches of many prominent American gymnasts.
   Unlike many of the other students at the Károlyi school, Comaneci was
   able to commute from home for many years because she lived in the area.

   Comaneci began competing as a member of her hometown team in 1970. 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 additional dual meets with nearby countries such as
   Hungary, Italy and Poland.

   Comaneci's first major international success came at the age of 13,
   when she nearly swept the 1975 European 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 in
   other meets in 1975, 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. In the Pre-Olympic test event
   in Montreal, Comaneci 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 would prove to be one of her greatest
   rivals over the next five years. The international community took note
   of Comaneci: The Associated Press named her its 1976 "Female Athlete of
   the Year".

Montreal Olympics

   At the age of 14, Comaneci became one of the stars of the 1976 Olympic
   Games in Montreal. During the team portion of the competition, her
   routine on the uneven bars was scored at a 10.0. It was the first time
   in Olympic gymnastics history that the score, which signified a perfect
   routine without any deductions, had ever been awarded. The scoreboards
   were not even equipped to display scores of 10.0--so Nadia's perfect
   marks were reported on the boards as 1.00 instead. Over the course of
   the Olympics, Comaneci would earn six additional 10s, en route to
   capturing the all-around, beam and bars titles and a bronze medal on
   the floor exercise. The Romanian team also placed second in the team
   competition.

   Comaneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the all-around title at
   the Olympics. She also holds the record as the youngest Olympic
   gymnastics all-around champion ever; with the revised age-eligibility
   requirements in the sport (gymnasts must now turn 16 instead of 15 in
   the calendar year to compete in the Olympics), this record will stand
   indefinitely.

   Comaneci's achievements at the Olympics generated a significant amount
   of media attention. The theme song from the American soap opera The
   Young and the Restless became associated with her after the television
   program ABC Wide World Of Sports used it as background music for
   montages of her routines. The song became the best seller of the year
   1976, and the song writer renamed it to " Nadia's Theme" after her.
   However, Comaneci never actually performed to "Nadia's Theme." Her
   floor exercise music was a medley of the songs "Yes Sir, That's My
   Baby" and "Jump in the Line" arranged for piano.

   She was the 1976 BBC Sports Personality of the Year in the overseas
   athletes category. Back home in Romania, Comaneci's success led her to
   be named a " Hero of Socialist Labor", she was the youngest Romanian to
   receive such recognition during the reign of Nicolae Ceauşescu.

1977-1980

   Comaneci successfully defended her European all-around title in 1977,
   but when questions about the scoring were raised, Ceauşescu ordered the
   Romanian gymnasts to return home. The team followed orders and
   controversially walked out of the competition during the event finals.

   An overweight and out of shape Comaneci showed up at the 1978 World
   Championships. A fall from the uneven bars resulted in a 4th place
   finish in the all-around behind Elena Mukhina, Nellie Kim, and Natalia
   Shaposhnikova, but Comaneci won the beam title.

   In 1979, a newly slim and motivated Comaneci won her third consecutive
   European all-around title, becoming the first gymnast, male or female,
   to achieve the feat. At the World Championships that December, Comaneci
   led the field after the compulsory competition but was hospitalized
   prior to the optional portion of the team competition for blood
   poisoning caused by a cut in her wrist from her metal grip buckle.
   Against doctors' orders, she left the hospital and competed on the
   beam, where she scored a 9.95. Her performance helped give the
   Romanians their first team gold medal. After her performance, Comaneci
   spent several days recovering in All Saints Hospital and underwent a
   minor surgical procedure for the infected hand, which had developed an
   abscess.

   Comaneci participated in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, placing
   second in the all-around to Yelena Davydova. She defended her Olympic
   title in the balance beam and tied with Kim for the gold medal in the
   floor exercise. The Romanian team finished second overall.

   Comaneci retired from competition in 1981. Her official retirement
   ceremony took place in Bucharest in 1984 and was attended by the IOC
   Chairman.

Post retirement

   In 1981, Comaneci participated in a gymnastics exhibition tour in the
   United States. During the tour, her coaches, Béla and Marta Károlyi,
   along with the Romanian team choreographer Geza Pozar, defected. Upon
   her return to Romania, Comaneci's actions were strictly monitored. She
   was granted leave to attend the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles but was
   supervised for the entire trip. Aside from that journey, Comaneci was
   forbidden to leave the country for any reason. "Life..." she wrote in
   her autobiography, "took on a new bleakness."

   Working in Romania, between 1984 and 1989, Comaneci was a member of the
   Romanian Gymnastics Federation and helped coach the Romanian junior
   gymnasts. In November of 1989, a few weeks before the Revolution, she
   defected with a group of other young Romanians. Her overland journey
   took her through Hungary, Austria, and finally, to the United States.

   After settling in the United States, Comaneci spent most of her time
   touring and promoting lines of gymnastics apparel and aerobic
   equipment. She also dabbled in modeling, appearing in ads for wedding
   dresses and Jockey underwear.

   In 1994, she became engaged to US gymnast Bart Conner, whom she had met
   for the first time in 1976 at the American Cup. Together with Conner,
   she returned to Romania for the first time since her defection (and
   since the fall of Communism and of Ceausescu), and the couple were
   married in Bucharest on April 27, 1996. The ceremony was broadcast live
   in Romania, and the reception was held in the former presidential
   palace.

   On June 29, 2001, Comaneci became a naturalized citizen of the United
   States. She has also retained her Romanian passport, making her a dual
   citizen.

   Comaneci is active in many charities and international organizations.
   In 1999, she became the first athlete to be invited to speak at the
   United Nations to launch the Year 2000 International Year of
   Volunteers. She is currently the Vice-Chair of the Board Of Directors
   of the International Special Olympics and Vice President of the Board
   of Directors of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. She has also
   personally funded the construction and operation of the Nadia Comaneci
   Children's Clinic, a clinic in Bucharest that provides low-cost and
   free medical and social support to Romanian children. In 2003, the
   Romanian government appointed her as an Honorary Consul General of
   Romania to the United States to deal with bilateral relations between
   the two nations. She performs this function based out of her Norman,
   Oklahoma, office.

   In the world of gymnastics, Comaneci is the Honorary President of the
   Romanian Gymnastics Federation, the Honorary President of Romanian
   Olympic Committee, Ambassador of Sports of Romania and a member of the
   International Gymnastics Federation Foundation. She and her husband own
   the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy, the Perfect 10 Production Company
   and several sports equipment shops. They are also the editors of
   International Gymnast magazine. Additionally, Comaneci and Conner have
   provided television commentary for many gymnastics meets, most recently
   the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne.

   Comaneci received the Olympic Order, the highest award given by the
   International Olympic Committee, in 1984 and 2004. She is the only
   person to receive this honour twice, and was also the youngest
   recipient. She has also been inducted into the International Gymnastics
   Hall of Fame

   In December 2003, her book, Letters To A Young Gymnast, was published.
   The memoir answers questions that she has received in letters from
   fans. Comaneci has also been the subject of several unofficial
   biographies, television documentaries and a made-for-television film,
   Nadia, that was broadcast in the United States shortly before the 1984
   Olympics.

   In 2005, Fox.com elected the Greatest Athletes in 150 years of Sports
   history, Nadia placed 4th in the final voting, ahead of Pelé and
   Mohammad Ali, and was the highest ranked female athlete.

   Comaneci and Conner welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Dylan
   Paul Conner, on June 3, 2006 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The baby was
   three weeks early, weighing in only at 4 lb 10 oz and measuring 17
   inches long, but was able to go home from the hospital a few days after
   delivery.

Special skills

     * On the uneven bars, Comaneci performed her own release move, a kip
       to front salto. The skill is named after her in the women's Code of
       Points and, as of 2005, is rated as an 'E' element. Only a handful
       of international gymnasts are capable of performing the Comaneci
       successfully.
     * Comaneci was the first gymnast to successfully perform an aerial
       walkover and an aerial cartwheel-two back handsprings flight series
       on the beam.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Com%C4%83neci"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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