Nadia Comaneci is the most celebrated gymnast in history. As star of the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, she became the first gymnast to score a perfect 10, earning seven such marks on her way to three gold medals, a silver, and a bronze. She appeared on the covers of Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated the following week.

Nadia continued her dominance through the 1980 Moscow Olympics, earning two gold and two silver medals. She retired from gymnastics in 1984 and was awarded the prestigious Olympic Order from the President of the International Olympic committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Except for a brief, heavily supervised appearance at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Nadia was rarely seen by the Western public. Romania's communist leadership considered her a prime candidate for defection. With travel forbidden, she felt she could no longer live in such repression, so in 1989, she fled across the border to freedom. Her departure was viewed by many as the beginning of the end of the Romanian communist regime. Her return years later was greeted with accolades usually reserved for a liberation army.

Nadia, who still trains and exercises daily, speaks five languages and has been a commentator at major gymnastics competitions for several television networks. In 1996, Nadia married Bart Conner in Bucharest, Romania in what became a State celebration. Together, the two perform in exhibitions, at speaking engagements and in commercial endorsements for major companies.

Awaken the Olympian Within
Stories from America's Greatest Olympic Motivators
Paperback $19.95
© 1999, Griffin Publishing; ISBN: 1882180984
288 pages

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