Nadia Comaneci marks 40th anniversary of her 1st Olympic gold
Former gymnast from Romania posted seven perfect 10s and won 5 medals during Montreal Olympics
Nadia Comaneci returned to Montreal to mark the 40th anniversary of her first gold medal at the 1976 Summer Games — where she became the first gymnast to record a perfect score at the Olympics.
"It's very emotional every time," Comaneci said Thursday. "It feels like it's been in a different lifetime for me."
Comaneci, who represented Romania at the Olympics but later defected to the U.S., won her first medal in the women's artistic individual all-around competition on July 21, 1976, at age 14.
"When I was 14, I had no pressure. I was a kid and I didn't understand all the attention," Comaneci said.
There were 6,084 athletes in Montreal that year, but Comaneci rose to international fame after she put up her first perfect 10 score at the Games, on the uneven bars on the first day of competition.
She posted a total of seven perfect 10s and won five medals, including three gold.
Comaneci, 54, was scheduled to visit the Olympic Stadium's exhibit Souvenirs from 1976, which recounts the highlights of the Games, on Thursday morning.