The 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada brought a number of ‘firsts’ into athletics. One of the most surprising was little Nadia Comaneci, of Romania. The tiny powerhouse from the oppressed country entered the Olympics, becoming the first person to win with a perfect ten score and she won our hearts.

Born in 1961, Nadia became entranced by gymnastics by the young age of 6 years old. She was discovered and then trained by Bela Karolyi, the famed gymnastic coach. Karolyi and his wife were impressed with Nadia’s talent, but also her work ethic. Her own personal memories of that time included the fact that she continued to try, even though she fell a lot. She was only seven when she was entered into the Romanian National Junior Championship. While she finished in thirteenth place, it gave Nadia a taste of getting close to winning.

Nadia’s training schedule increased to a grueling eight hours per day, six days per week with Karolyi. Her role model and the gymnast that she looked up to was Olga Korbut, famed Soviet star. She continued to train and her improvements gave her the opportunity to enter the 1975 European Championships, where she walked away with four gold and one silver medal. Her main goal was the 1976 Olympic Games and she tested herself in the New York City held American Cup competition. In this particular meet, there is one female and one male that represent their particular countries. Nadia Comaneci won the competition, without seemingly too much trouble. Nadia had set herself up for the road to the Olympics.

The world is always aglow and all eyes on the Olympics. Nadia didn’t disappoint, in fact, the little wisp of a girl from Romania took the first night by storm when she became the very first athlete in Olympic history to have a perfect ten score. She followed with a total of seven perfect ten scores and her gold medal collection included: uneven bars, balance beam and all-around competition. Nadia added her efforts to the Romanian team and they won the team competition silver medal. Nadia became world famous, everyone’s favorite gymnast, in an overnight media blitz. The Government of Romania showed their pride by giving her family a new car and a month vacation. She continued in the 1980 Olympics to win 2 more gold medals.

Nadia’s life, sadly, turned into turmoil after the Olympic wins. Between family problems and the fact that her trainer, Karolyi, had defected to the United States, Nadia began to spiral down. The Romanian government viewed Nadia as a valuable asset to their country and, in fear of her own defection, refused to allow her to travel to Western countries. Nadia simply dropped off the face of communication with any of the Western media and, as the years passed, she began thinking more of defection.

In 1989, Nadia made a dangerous trip to escape the oppression of her country. Her escape is the story of legends and finally, she arrived in the United States. More personal problems involving an abusive and controlling manager included his escape with all of the money she had left. However, those that are in the gymnastic community look out for each other, and it wasn’t long until many came to Nadia’s aid.

Nadia began a new life in the United States, teaching and performing gymnastics. She prefers to look forward and doesn’t like to talk about what she calls ‘the dark times’. She is pleased, however, when people mention her Olympic triumphs. Nadia is now an older mature woman, but if you look close, you can see it in her eyes: she is still that littlest waif of a girl from Romania, with so much talent.