Nadia Comaneci

Nadia Comaneci(DOBNov 12,1961)the Romanian Gymnast, at the age of 14 won 3 Gold Medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games in Canada where she became the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastics event

Nadia Comaneci also won 2 Gold Medals at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games in Russia

Nadia Comăneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title. She also holds the record for being the youngest Olympic gymnastics all-around champion ever.

With the revised age-eligibility requirements in the sport (gymnasts must now turn 16 in the calendar year to compete in the Olympics; in 1976 gymnasts had to be 14 by the first day of the competition), it is currently not possible to break this record legall

Awards

was the 1976 BBC Sports Personality of the Year in the overseas athletes category
 
 received the 'Olympic Order twice in 1984 and 2004 ,the only person to have received twice and also its youngest recipient

In 2000,Nadia Comăneci was named as one of the Athletes of the Century by the Laureus World Sports Academy

Defection to USA

In 1981 Comăneci participated in a gymnastics exhibition tour in the United States. During the tour, her coaches, Béla and Márta Károlyi, along with the Romanian team choreographer Géza Pozsár, defected

In Romania, between 1984 and 1989, Comăneci was a member of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and helped coach the Romanian junior gymnasts. On the night of November 27, 1989, a few weeks before the revolution, she defected with a group of other young Romanians. Her overland journey took her through Hungary, Austria, and finally to the United States.

Retirement

Nadia Comăneci retired from competition in 1981. Her official retirement ceremony took place in Bucharest in 1984 and was attended by the chairman of the IOC