Nadia Comaneci's Biography

Nadia Comaneci was born in Onesti on November 12, 1961. She is by
far the most famous gymnast of all time, after winning the 1976 Olympics
& earning the first perfect 10 awarded ever. Not only did she earn it once
at those games, but 7 times! She returned to the Olympics in 1980 but
placed 2nd., a place many felt was wrong since she obviously outdid her
competitors on everything. Many people felt Nadia was robbed of the gold
there due to score rigging by the Soviet officials. Nevertheless, Nadia
moved on & competed into the 1981 season, until the 1981 Nadia Tour
came to the USA. It was here that her coaches Bela & Marta Karolyi &
Geza Pozsar all decided to leave the team & their homeland & defect
to the USA. This affected Nadia tremendously & not long after returning
to Romania she retired. She was nearly 20. She remained in Romania
& basically dropped out of sight for a while until the revolution in 1989.
Threats were made by the government to Nadia & her family...so she
fled. She managed to make it to the USA, but not before the Romanian
dictator in charge (Nicolae Ceausescu) was overthrown & killed. Nadia
however remained in the USA & began coaching. In the early 1990's
she sent for her family to join her in New York. Her family is now
scattered all across the USA, & as for Nadia, on April 27, 1996 she
married American star Bart Conner in Bucharest. This date was since
named a national holiday in Romania, & even more, Nadia's original
club in Onesti is now named after her. Nadia currently lives in Norman,
Oklahoma where she coaches at Bart Conner Gymnastics, a club owned
by her & her husband. The two still perform in tours around the country.


                              last updated: March 30, 2000