Olympic legend: The perfect gymnast

Nadia Comaneci was the queen of the world after she delivered the most unforgettable performance at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games

At the tender age of 14, she gave the world one of its greatest sporting moments. The first gymnast ever to score a perfect 10, Nadia Comaneci will always be remembered as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Born in Romania, she was named after a Russian film her mother watched while she was pregnant. Nadia, apparently means, hope. While everybody in Romania knew the talent she possessed, but few probably had hoped for a perfect ten from her when she traveled to Montreal for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games.
The youngest ever gymnast to win the Romanian national championship, Comaneci's skills and grace at the Montrel Olympics made the world drool. But it was her sublime performance in the team compulsory portion of the competition on July 18 that stunned the world. As the story goes, Omega - the official Olympic scoreboard manufacturer - asked the organisers if four digits would be required for the event. They were told that it was not required because a perfect 10.00 was not possible in gymnastics. So when Nadia completed her performance, her perfect score was shown as 1.00. The crowd inside the arena was confused at first but soon they realised the magnitude of what was achieved by the gifted Romanian as they began to give her a standing ovation.
Nadia went on to earn six additional tens as she clinched the all-around, beam, and bars titles, and a bronze medal on the floor exercise. Sports Illustrated magazine later wrote: "At Montreal [Comaneci] received four of her seven 10s on the uneven bars ... But it is on the beam that her work seems more representative of her unbelievable skill. She scored three of her seven 10s on the beam. Her hands speak there as much as her body. Her pace magnifies her balance. Her command and distance hush the crowd."
Nadia also won two world championship golds as well as nine European Championships gold medals in her glittering career. Due to the political unrest in Romania, she defected to USA in 1989. On June 29, 2001, Com?neci became a US citizen. However, she retained her Romanian passport, making her a dual citizen.