The Perfect 10: The Incredible Life of Gymnast Nadia Comăneci

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One day in 1976, a teenage girl stepped into an arena in Montréal, Canada. At that moment, she changed the world of gymnastics, and her life, forever. In 1976, one young woman became the first and only gymnast to achieve a perfect ten score at the Olympics, and that was only the start of her amazing story. This is the fascinating life and career of Nadia Comăneci.

Ball of Energy

The incredible gymnastics career of Nadia Comăneci was an unintentional byproduct of her mother’s desperation to get some sleep. The infant Comăneci, who was born in Onești, Romania November 12, 1961, was energetic to the point of being hyperactive. Hoping to get some rest, the young girl’s mother enrolled her in gymnastics classes in an attempt to tire her out. 

Comăneci loved the sport of gymnastics so much that she took even more energy from it. She practiced constantly and showed an immediate talent for the taxing skills it required. From the first moment she bounded into a gymnasium, the purpose of Nadia Comăneci’s life was clear - and her mom still didn’t get any sleep.

Serendipity Struck

By the age of six, Nadia Comăneci's love of gymnastics drove her to practice and perform tricks at every opportunity. Not only was she working hard during her classes but she was also using her school playtimes to turn cartwheels and try out moves with friends between classes. One day, the gymnastics coach Béla Károlyi passed by Comăneci's school.

At the time, Károlyi was scouting for young girls with promising potential who he could train at his experimental gymnastics school. After seeing Comăneci, he approached her with an invitation to join his program. The combination of her talents with his knowledge and experience would prove to be a winning formula.

Try, Try Again

In 1968, at the age of seven, Nadia Comăneci became one of the first pupils at the new school established by Béla Károlyi and his wife, Márta. As she lived close by, Comăneci remained living at home rather than needing to board like many of the other students. After a year of training, she entered her first competition, the Romanian National Junior Championships.

Comăneci struggled that day, falling more than once and placing just 13th, but the young athlete did not let it deter her. She returned to her training and worked to improve her form, and her landings, and to prepare for the following year’s events. At the age of eight, Comăneci competed once more in the Junior Championships. This time, she swept the board.

Senior Competition

In gymnastics, competitors become eligible to graduate from junior competitions to senior events at the age of 14. Nadia Comăneci’s 14th birthday came on November 12, 1975, by which time she had six years of experience taking part in tournaments and meets, and almost 30 gold medals.

Comăneci’s first Senior competition was the European Championships in Skien, Norway, at which she won four gold medals and one silver. She followed this up with the same result at the Romanian National Championships. Comăneci’s form was on a high as she began to set her eyes on the biggest meet in the gymnastics world, the Olympic Games, which were scheduled to take place the following year in Montréal, Canada.

The Kiss

As 1976 arrived, Nadia Comăneci continued to sweep aside the competition as she prepared for the Olympics. Her confidence grew as she achieved a clean sweep of five gold medals in the Balkan Championships and victories in international meets against Canada, West Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.

That year, Comăneci also won an individual silver medal at the inaugural American Cup at New York’s Madison Square Garden. As she stood on the podium, a photographer had the idea that the athlete beside her, an 18-year-old American named Bart Conner, should give the teenage Romanian a kiss. Conner and Comăneci agreed and, at that moment, a spark was ignited between them.

Perfect Tens

As Nadia Comăneci continued to win competitions, the international gymnastics community began to get excited about her rare talent and what it might mean for the upcoming Olympics. Comăneci was also confident in herself, but she didn’t know what would happen when she came to the biggest competition on the planet to face off against the most highly skilled and well-practiced gymnasts of the day. 

Even in their wildest dreams, there’s no way anyone could have predicted what actually did happen in Montréal during the summer of 1976. In her debut event, Comăneci was awarded the first-ever perfect ten score at an Olympic game. In her second event, she received another. This continued across every event until Comăneci had six perfect ten results to her name. The world was stunned.

Top 10

What happened in Montréal made Nadia Comăneci a national hero in Romania, and an international celebrity. She was showered with gifts and honors her country. Time magazine put her on its cover. The BBC named her “Sports Personality of the Year” at its annual awards.

Comăneci even ended up with her own top-ten single after a reporter from ABC's Wide World Of Sports aired a series of slow-motion clips of her performance to a soundtrack of "Cotton's Dream” from the 1971 movie Bless the Beasts and Children. The music became so inescapably linked with Comăneci that its composers chose to rename it “Nadia’s Theme” and sales sent it flying up the charts. 

Beneath the Surface

While Nadia Comăneci’s career was riding as high as it possibly could be, not everything in the teenage gymnast's life was going so well. Her parent’s marriage was falling apart and Comăneci found herself caught in the middle of their unpleasant divorce proceedings and having to field questions from the world’s media about it.

Romanian authorities also attempted to remove Comăneci from the coaching school of Béla Károlyi and she was sent to a sports complex in Bucharest. The foundations of Comăneci’s life were crumbling, and she did not take it well.

It Was All Too Much

At 15 years old, the life of Nadia Comăneci had been turned upside down and inside out. In just a few short years, she’d gone from a little girl turning cartwheels in the playground to the biggest star in world gymnastics, her home life had fallen apart, and she’d been separated from the coach who had supported her since she was six years old.

The attention and the pressure were constant, and she was being pulled in every direction. One day, Comăneci decided she couldn’t cope with it anymore and tried to take her own life. Thankfully, she was unsuccessful. The Romanian authorities saw her cry for help and reunited her with Béla Károlyi in an attempt to bring some stability back to her life.

Growing Up

As gymnastics suits smaller bodies, most of the world’s greatest gymnasts achieve their success just before puberty hits, as had been the case - so far - with Nadia Comăneci. When her body did begin to change, the Romanian government encouraged her to take a break. By the time she returned to a major competition, Comăneci was "seven inches taller and a stone and a half heavier".

She won gold on the balance beam and silver on the vault but finished only fifth on the uneven bars and eighth on the floor. Another consequence of Comăneci becoming an adult was that people started speculating about her potential relationships. One rumor suggested she was involved with Nicu Ceaușescu, the son of the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu. It was untrue, but the story damaged Comăneci’s reputation anyway.

Moscow Olympics

Nadia Comăneci took part in her second Olympic Games in 1980, at the age of 18. Held in Moscow, it was seen by Russia as a showcase for their “superior” athletes, but they were not willing to leave anything to chance. Soldiers were deployed into the crowd and tasked with attempting to distract or demoralize competitors from other nations.

Comăneci was a target for these Russian heckles and heard them shout “Fall, Nadia, fall!" throughout her routines. She put these distractions out of her mind and focused on her performance. It worked, she won gold on the balance beam and the floor and took the all-around silver medal, helping Romania to reach the silver medal position for the competition. However, there was a problem with the scoring.

Furious Protest

Nadia Comăneci’s coach, Béla Károlyi, believed his star had been scored unfairly during her routines and became embroiled in a furious argument with the judges. It was caught on camera, causing a stir around the world. Romanian authorities were furious at how they believed this reflected on their country and Károlyi was made to suffer for his actions once he returned home.

Around the world, however, it was the Olympics that suffered the biggest reputational damage. A paragon of neutrality and fair competition, Károlyi’s anger had highlighted what some already believed, that politics and vested national interests were creeping into the games and tainting the purity which made them so special. Most dangerously for himself, Károlyi pointed a finger directly at the Russians, all but accusing them of cheating, a bold move for a man living under the Romanian communist dictatorship.

Profitable Product

After her success in two Olympic Games, Nadia Comăneci was a global superstar and the cash-strapped Romanian government wished to make as much money from her as they could while her value was at its highest. They sent her on tour, performing and appearing across the United States. Comăneci was a hot ticket and her events brought around $250,000 back to her home country of Romania.

Comăneci, on her part, was paid $1,000, a significant sum for a young Romanian in the 1980s, but perhaps not her fair share considering the whole thing couldn’t have happened without her. What the Nadia ‘81 tour did offer for Comăneci and her coaches, however, was an opportunity.

Defections

After his actions at the Russian Olympics, Béla Károlyi found himself in a precarious position with the Romanian authorities. He was constantly followed and watched and was beginning to fear for his life. While he was useful as the coach of Nadia Comăneci, this couldn’t protect him forever and Károlyi decided not to return to Romania after the Nadia ‘81 tour.

Károlyi remained in the US and defected, as did two other members of the touring party. The coach tried to persuade Comăneci to do the same and stay in America with him, but the 20-year-old athlete believed her home was in Romania and that was where she should return to.

Under Surveillance

Once she arrived home, Nadia Comăneci was soon made to regret her decision to remain loyal to Romania. After the defection of her coach, Romanian authorities no longer trusted Comăneci. She was followed by agents, her phone was bugged, and her mail was intercepted. Romania feared their star athlete might defect and made it their mission to prevent her from doing so.

Comăneci was even banned from traveling to competitions outside of the Communist Bloc. Ironically, it was in trying to trap her that Romania pushed her away. Comăneci no longer felt safe and began looking for ways to get out. She contacted a man named Constantin Panait, a Romanian who had escaped to Florida by swimming across the Danube. Panait offered to help and the two began to form a plan.

Escape Plan

The only people Nadia Comăneci could tell about her intention to defect were her younger brother and his wife. Her parents might have begged her to stay and nobody else could be trusted to keep her secret. Comăneci also had reservations about Constantin Panait, but her brother did some investigating and agreed he seemed to be someone they could trust.

On foot and under the cover of the winter night, Comăneci made her way to the Hungarian border in 1989. As soon as she was recognized, the famous gymnast was allowed to pass, given a blanket, and taken to the Austrian Embassy. There, she met Panait and the two flew to New York. Her escape had been a success and Comăneci reached America, though she wasn’t yet completely free.

Mixed Reception

The 28-year-old woman who landed in America in 1989 looked very different from the teenage superstar who had wowed the world at the Montréal Olympics 13 years before. She was not even the same person who had toured the US in 1981. There was also a rumor she was having an affair with Constantin Panait, the married man who had helped to smuggle her out of Romania.

As a result, Comăneci did not exactly receive a hero's welcome, and many Americans displayed mixed feelings about her arrival in general. Her situation wasn’t helped by Panait's over-protection. Both Comăneci's former coach, Béla Károlyi, and Bart Conner, the boy she’d kissed on the podium in Madison Square Garden, tried to contact Comăneci but Panait blocked their messages.

Bad Manager

When Nadia Comăneci failed to connect with any of the people she knew in America, alarm bells began ringing, particularly for Bart Conner. Unwilling to let things lie, he hatched a plan to meet with Comăneci by arranging to become a “surprise guest” while she was giving an interview on The Pat Sajak Show in LA.

Eventually, it came to light that, rather than simply being an ally who helped Comăneci regain her freedom, Constantin Panait was a parasite who was seeking to profit from her fame. He appointed himself her “manager” and kept her moving around the country, staying in hotels and motels, booking any engagement that would pay.

A Second Escape

Alexandru Stefu, a gymnastics coach and friend of Nadia Comăneci, learned about her situation and decided to intervene. Stefu set up a meeting with Comăneci and Constantin Panait without revealing its true purpose. Once there, the Romanian athlete was encouraged to be open about her living situation, and she was.

After Comăneci accused Panait of mistreatment, her would-be “manager” fled. He took Comăneci's car and money and left the country. Later, Comăneci admitted that she felt no resentment toward Panait for how he treated her when she arrived in the US. He had freed her from Romania as he’d promised, and she felt the time with him was a fair price to pay for that help.

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Building a New Life

Now she was free from the controlling influence of Constantin Panait, Nadia Comăneci was able to start reconnecting with the people she knew in America and to begin building a new life for herself. When Alexandru Stefu, the man who had helped Comăneci grasp her independence from Panait, sadly died in a snorkeling accident, she looked elsewhere for support. 

Comăneci’s savior came in the form of Bart Conner’s gymnastics coach, Paul Ziert, who invited her to live with him and his family in Norman, Oklahoma. The arrangement proved an incredible success and Comăneci hired Ziert as her personal manager. She also asked him for Bart Conner’s telephone number and began chatting regularly with the boy who had once kissed her in New York.

Falling in Love

Over the following four years, the relationship between Nadia Comăneci and Bart Conner grew steadily. At first, they were just friends. They then became business partners after Conner asked Comăneci to open a gymnastics school with him. Over time, the two former athletes grew closer and began dating.

By 1994, Conner and Comăneci were in a serious relationship and, while on a trip to Amsterdam together, Conner proposed. Comăneci was over the moon, she said “Yes!” immediately and the two began planning their wedding.

Returning Hero

A revolution had swept through Romania in the December of 1989, just a few weeks after Nadia Comăneci had made the dangerous journey from her home country to the US. As a result, the communist government she had been afraid of was no longer in place and Comăneci was free to return in safety. In fact, Romania was only too happy to have her. Bart Conner and Comăneci decided to hold their wedding in Romania and the liberal government now in place offered the Palace of the Parliament as a venue.

The event that took place was more than just a wedding, it was the homecoming of a national hero. 10,000 people attended the wedding in person while many more watched at home on television. During the ceremony, Comăneci declared her love for the Romanian people and explained it was only the regime she ever wished to leave behind.

Awful Allegations

While Nadia Comăneci had been preparing for her wedding to Bart Conner, her world was rocked by a terrible rumor. A horrifying news story broke about an 11-year-old Romanian gymnast who had been beaten to death by her coach. The perpetrator, when he was arrested, pointed a finger at Béla Károlyi. The brutal killer accused Károlyi of also beating his students, including Comăneci.

Both Károlyi and Comăneci strenuously denied the allegation. Western journalists wrote stories suggesting Romania had become so obsessed with creating a new Nadia Comăneci that they encouraged coaches to use any means necessary to produce one.

Hidden Evidence

Press outside Romania became obsessed with the story of the murdered child. The fact there were no photos, with any that existed presumed to have been hidden or destroyed by the Romanian authorities, only intrigued them further. Béla Károlyi spoke up to say that, in his day at least, violence against young athletes was something that happened openly.

He added that, even after the fall of the communist regime, the secret police remained powerful and ordinary citizens were occasionally known to “disappear” if it suited the county’s agenda. Károlyi said this was all part of the reason he and Nadia Comăneci fled Romania in the first place.

The Next Generation

Ten years after their wedding and 30 years after their first kiss, Nadia Comăneci and Bart Conner had reason to celebrate once more. Their son, Dylan, was born on June 3, 2006. As with any parents, Dylan quickly became the focus of Comăneci and Conner’s world, and their social media was filled with pictures of the blonde-haired young boy.

At 16 years old in 2022, it’s beginning to look as though Dylan might not be destined to follow in his parents' agile footsteps but, with a loving home and solid foundations, he is well-placed to enjoy whatever journey his life provides.

Movie Star

Katie Holmes is perhaps best known for her long-running role as Joey Potter in the teen drama Dawson’s Creek and, later, as the wife of Tom Cruise between 2006 and 2012. A few years after her divorce from the Top Gun star, Holmes took a deep interest in the story of Nadia Comăneci and directed a short ESPN documentary about the gymnast's fascinating life.

Eternal Princess premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015. While making the film, which focussed on the inspiring message of not giving up, Comăneci and Holmes became good friends. Holmes isn’t Comăneci’s only movie star pal. While living in Los Angeles, she once bumped into Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Terminator approached Comăneci for a selfie and asked if she had time to give him a personal training session.

Gymnastics Power Couple

Today, the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy, which is jointly run by the homegrown gymnast and his wife, Nadia Comăneci, receives tens of thousands of applicants every year. Talented young gymnasts are so keen to perfect their craft under the tutelage of the two legends that they are even willing to move to Norman, Oklahoma, to do so.

Conner and Comăneci supplement their income with endorsements from companies keen to be associated with gymnastics’ best-loved power couple. They often tour together, offering training seminars and motivational lectures all over the world. Almost 50 years after their first Olympic Games, Conner and Comăneci are still international celebrities and are celebrated everywhere they go.

Business is Flourishing

In addition to their prestigious gymnastics school, Nadia Comăneci and Bart Conner have launched a line of gymnastics equipment and apparel. With their combined experience, few people are better placed to know what young athletes need to reach their full potential.

Today, professionals and amateurs alike can invest in premium stock from bars to crash pads and even grip tape. If it is used in gymnastics, the famous couple sells the best of it. Some of Comăneci and Conner’s many businesses include the Bart & Nadia Sports Experience, Grips, Etc., and GymDivas, inc.

Producing the Future

Nadia Comăneci’s commitment to supporting gymnasts of the future doesn’t end with training them and providing them the best equipment, she’s also keen to make sure they get the exposure they need. In 1998, Comăneci’s and Bart Conner formed Perfect 10 Productions, Inc.

The company's agenda is to promote televised gymnastics all around the world. As well as working with the biggest names in sport television, such as ESPN and Fox, Perfect 10 produces the annual Nadia Comaneci Invitational meet, which entered its 29th year in 2022.

Big Earner

In the 21st century, we are more than used to our sporting stars being millionaires many times over. The biggest players in sports such as football, basketball, and tennis can earn seven figures before even turning 21. For gymnasts, the big money is much harder to come by. Nadia Comăneci has come a long way since the time her Romanian controllers paid her $1000 for a $250,000 tour.

Today, Nadia Comăneci and her family are estimated to be worth around $10 million. While some of this has come from post-defection sponsorship, much of it has been earned through working hard on her various businesses in the forty years since her retirement from gymnastic competition.

Losing Wasn’t an Option

The term “positive mental attitude” is bandied about in all walks of life and you won’t struggle to find someone in any gym, sports club, or office that believes in it wholeheartedly. Nadia Comăneci would agree, but her approach was slightly different. More than having the desire to win, Comăneci hated losing.

According to Comăneci, the perfect tens which came her way in Montréal were only partially the result of natural talent. The biggest factor in her success was her determination to never fail. Nadia Comăneci became one of the greatest gymnasts in history because she, quite simply, decided not to lose.

Lasting Legacy

The nature of sporting records and achievements is that they are made to be beaten. One day, Usain Bolt’s 9.58 second 100-meter record will be beaten. Somebody will topple Lionel Messi by winning eight Ballon d'Or trophies. When it comes to Nadia Comăneci, however, her perfect record at the Montréal Olympics may never be beaten.

Rule changes and grading guides mean it is now almost impossible for a repeat of Comăneci’s 1976 scores to occur. Having said that, everybody thought it was impossible in the first place until Comăneci proved them wrong. If that isn’t enough of a legacy, Comăneci is also credited with introducing so many new elements to her gymnastics routines that her moves are still studied by experts and new gymnasts today.

Staying in Shape

When she was preparing for the Olympics, World Championships, and other high-intensity meets, Nadia Comăneci trained for up to eight hours every single day. While she no longer competes, Comăneci is still serious about keeping in shape.

These days she prefers shorter sessions such as high-intensity half-hour workouts, probably because she needs to leave room for running her businesses, spending time with her family, and - above all - enjoying the fruits of her labors. At 61 years old in 2022, Comăneci is still in incredible shape and doesn’t seem ready to slow down yet.

Eat to Live

It’s not just exercise that Nadia Comăneci values, it’s nutrition and healthy eating too. As a young gymnast, her diet was strictly controlled, but Comăneci never felt as though she was being denied a pleasure.

Even today, Comăneci maintains a strict calorie-controlled diet without any processed food. In one interview, she proudly announced it had been 25 years since she last ate a French fry. One of Comăneci’s favorite dishes is Salata de Vinete, a classic Romanian dish made from eggplant, onions, and spices.

Going Back

In 2017, the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was held in Montréal, Canada. Remembering her unrivaled performance from 41 years before, the event’s organizers contacted Nadia Comăneci and asked if she’d like to become a spokesperson for the competition.

Comăneci was only too glad to return to the place where everything began for her, in spectacular style, all those years ago. Perhaps the involvement of gymnastics’ only perfect ten athlete will have inspired the next superstar of the future. Perhaps a young gymnast from Montréal will one day set the world alight with a perfect performance in Bucharest. We can only wait and see.

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