Nadia Comăneci is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. She’s one of the world's best-known gymnasts and is credited with popularizing the sport around the globe. Nadia Comăneci was born in Onești, which is a small town in the Carpathian Mountains, Nadia's mother enrolled her daughter into gymnastics classes because she was difficult to manage due to her full of energy. Comăneci was chosen to attend Béla Károlyi's experimental gymnastics school. Comăneci's first major international success came at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Norway., in 1975. She won gold medals on every event but the floor exercise, in which she placed second. She was 13.
On 18 July 1976, Comăneci was awarded the first perfect 10 at the Montreal Olympic for her routine on the uneven barss. . It w as an historic moment she . Funny fact: the Olympics scoreboard manufacturer was not programmed to display that score. Comăneci's perfect 10 thus appeared as "1.00," 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. A lot of people forget that her main rival, the Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim became the second gymnast to receive a perfect ten for her performance on the vault. She was the first woman to score a perfect 10 on the vault and on the floor exercise.
Nellie Kim is a retired Soviet gymnast born . After her victory in the republican Spartak's competition, in 1969. she was said to "have no future" by celebrated gymnast Larisa Latynina because she was not as flexible as some others . Kim was close to quit but persevered.At the 1971 Junior USSR Championships, she placed 5th and became one of the greatest hope of soviet gymnastic. She even made Larisa Latynina change her opinion.
Nellie Kim won three gold medals, one in the team competition and two in the event finals: on the vault and floor exercise. She was praised for her graceful style and her perfect technique.
“Those two individual medals are my favorites because I got perfect 10s.”
Unfortunately, Nellie kim's performances have been overshadowed by Comaneci's but real lovers of gymnastic knows she was fantastic. And the most important, she's really fine with her career and her life:
“Yes, we were rivals. Big rivals. We didn’t talk, but we respected each other, and that was the important thing. I was never jealous of her or mad at her when she would beat me. She was the best all arounder, I wasn’t. Everything she has made, she deserved it. I was better on vault and floor and that’s it. Nadia is five years younger than me. It was a fight between a woman and a girl. And still I won against her, which wasn’t easy.”
To know more about the subject:
Nellie Kim". International Federation of Gymnastics. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2006.
Whatever Happened to Nelli Kim?". GymnasticGreats.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2006.
Meyers, Dvora. "The other Perfect 10: The half-Korean Soviet gymnast you've never heard of". Fusion.
Legends: Nadia Comăneci International Gymnast magazine
50 stunning Olympic moments No5: Nadia Comaneci scores a perfect 10". The Guardian. December 14, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
Kerr, Roslyn. "The Impact of Nadia Comaneci on the Sport of Women's Artistic Gymnastics." Sporting Traditions, Australian Society for Sports History. November 2006
Montreal Olympic Park unveils plaza honouring gymnast Nadia Comaneci". Montreal Gazette. October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
