“I Look At That 14-Year-Old Like It’s Not Me”: Nadia Comaneci Reflected on the Courage That Changed Gymnastics
Turnerin Nadia Comaneci 1961 - 26. Juli 1976 Montreal, Kanada Die vierzehnjährige Turnerin NADIA COMANECI beobachtet den Wettkampf während der Olympischen Spiele 1976 in Montreal. Montreal Quebec Canada *** Gymnast Nadia Comaneci 1961 26 July 1976 Montreal, Canada the fourteen Gymnast Nadia Comaneci monitored the Competition during the Olympic Games 1976 in Montreal Montreal Quebec Canada PUBLICATIONxINxGERxAUTxSUIxLIExLUXxONLY Copyright: xUnitedxArchivesx/xkpaxKeystonex 19730805_sha_k09_988 ACHTUNG AUFNAHMEDATUM GESCHÄTZT
Turnerin Nadia Comaneci 1961 - 26. Juli 1976 Montreal, Kanada Die vierzehnjährige Turnerin NADIA COMANECI beobachtet den Wettkampf während der Olympischen Spiele 1976 in Montreal. Montreal Quebec Canada *** Gymnast Nadia Comaneci 1961 26 July 1976 Montreal, Canada the fourteen Gymnast Nadia Comaneci monitored the Competition during the Olympic Games 1976 in Montreal Montreal Quebec Canada PUBLICATIONxINxGERxAUTxSUIxLIExLUXxONLY Copyright: xUnitedxArchivesx/xkpaxKeystonex 19730805_sha_k09_988 ACHTUNG AUFNAHMEDATUM GESCHÄTZT
At 14, gymnastics star Nadia Comaneci was already doing what most could only dream of. But it wasn’t until much later that she realized how one courageous move revolutionized the sport.
At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the 14-year-old approached the mats to do compulsory routines. But instead of a generic performance, she brought in the Nadia touch, which no one had ever seen before.
“Mistakes give you a creativity and make you go… 'Oh, that’s something that body has done before,'” Comaneci told Olympic.com in 2024.
That detachment from her younger self reveals how extraordinary the achievement was — even she struggles to claim it.
“Even now, I’m looking back… thinking that the 14-year-old (version of me), the courage, the craziness, and determination. I look at that 14-year-old like it’s not me,” she recalled.
Gymnastics Nadia Comanici Nadia Comaneci ROM performs on the balance beam at the 1976 Olympic Summer Games, Montreal, Canada Montreal Quebec Canada Copyright: xPaulxJxSutton/DUOMO/PCNx GY0901_106004
Gymnastics Nadia Comanici Nadia Comaneci ROM performs on the balance beam at the 1976 Olympic Summer Games, Montreal, Canada Montreal Quebec Canada Copyright: xPaulxJxSutton/DUOMO/PCNx GY0901_106004
“Let’s try it” was what she thought before adding an amplitude to every skill. While her precision and elevated execution made her a standout immediately, Comaneci also accidentally invented the Comaneci Salto.
“My coach said, 'Do you think you can do that on the high bar and move it up?’” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘No, because I’m going to hit my heels.’ So we wrapped my heels with foam, because I was hitting them all the time. Until I figured out the good technique to avoid hitting my heels.”
Clinching five Olympic medals at Montreal while inventing a new E-rated move certainly made Comaneci a legendary gymnast. But there’s something that makes her even greater.
Nadia Comaneci Didn’t Think About the Scores
At 14, Comaneci was also the first gymnast in Olympic history to score a perfect 10. The score, which was a myth to gymnasts, forced the scoreboard to display 1.00. But surprisingly, it wasn’t the scores she was focused on.
“I didn’t even think about the score,” she said. “I was more into not making a mistake because the Olympics are every four years."
Her focus on execution over outcome is what separated her from competitors — the perfect 10 was a byproduct, not the goal.
"Just trying to concentrate on what I have to deliver in that minute and 20 seconds," she stated. "That was the only thing that was in my head.”
Half a century ago, Nadia Comaneci went beyond delivering an outstanding performance in Montreal. She showed the world how to change a sport in several ways, and that too on the Olympic floor.
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Written by
Deblina Roy
Edited by
Sijo Paul