A 1 in Gymnastics

A new story from the world of Romanian sports

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Florin Orban, 17.07.2020, 13:45

Welcome to a new story from the world of Romanian sports.

Few moments in the history of sports have remained, even after decades, unforgettable for those who witnessed them. In 1976, at the Olympic Games in Montreal, thousands of spectators, alongside tens of millions of TV viewers, watched a 14-year-old girl from Romania reaching perfection.

Gymnast Nadia Comaneci, managed, in both bars and beam events, flawless executions. After the uneven bars exercise, everybody was staring at the boards that were going to display the score, trying to anticipate the figure. And, surprise, the scoreboard showed…1.

The computer system of Swiss Timing company had not been devised to mark perfection, therefore the score 10, the first in the history of Olympic gymnastics, could not be displayed. In Montreal, Nadia beat the computerized systems with another six scores of 10 and won gold in uneven bars, beam and all-around events. In the general competition she defeated the first-seed, the Soviet star of the moment and much more experienced gymnast Nellie Kim. The Russian would confuse the scoring system too, with a 10 on the floor exercise and another one on vault.

For her performances at the Olympic Games in Montreal, which are now teaching materials for young gymnasts, the Romanian Nadia Comaneci went down in history. 13 years after the success in Montreal, Nadia, Romanias greatest athlete, came back into the spotlight. On November 27th, 1989, she illegally crossed the border between Romania and Hungary, to then reach Austria, where she requested political asylum in the United States. It was a powerful blow to dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his regime, which, within less than a month, would collapse. (M.Ignatescu)