Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner is a Romanian retired gymnast. A five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events, in 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games. At the same Games, she received six more perfect 10s for events en route to winning three gold medals. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, she won two more gold medals and achieved two more perfect 10s. During her career, she won nine Olympic medals and four World Artistic Gymnastics Championship medals.
Comăneci in 2024
Nadia Comăneci during the European Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia in May 1977
Comăneci at the 1976 Olympics
Comăneci at the 1976 Olympics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, back, chest, and abdominal muscle groups. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills.
Daniele Hypólito performing on the balance beam
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, the "father of gymnastics"
Early 20th-century gymnastics in Stockholm, Sweden
Nadia Comăneci in 1976. The artistry and grace of Comăneci and Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut gave the sport global popularity.