Nadia began gymnastics as a kindergartner. She was part of her local gymnastics team called Flacăra, meaning “The Flame” in Romanian. She was coached by Duncan and Munteanu. It didn’t take long for Nadia to get obsessed with the sport and by age 6, she already knew that she wanted to pursue gymnastics for the rest of her life.
However, at such a young age and only after a few gymnastics lessons, she never could have expected the course that her life would one day take.
Since then, gymnastics has proceeded to become a very competitive sport among both men and women. No doubt, the sport requires the competitor to possess great strength, agility, flexibility, and rhythm. Most competitive gymnastic events today are organized by The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique or FIG. The organization was formed in Liege in 1881 and greatly added to the rise in popularity of the sport. By 1896, the sport had become so popular, that it was included in the first ever modern Olympic Games. Nowadays, every country has their own FIG governing body to manage their gymnastics teams. Television has greatly assisted in publicizing gymnastics and attracting a lot of attention to the sport. Countries which stand out for their competitive gymnastics and for their reigning gymnasts over their years include Japan, China, Russia and other Soviet Countries like Romania and of course, the USA.
Throughout the years, these countries have dominated gymnastics around the world, and have produced many top competitors who have brought home honorable wins for their countries. Although their coaches often use rather questionably difficult training tactics, the controversial arduousness has led to many Olympic gold medalists, which has kept their local FIG quiet. There is one Romanian gymnast in particular who stood out among the crowd of gymnasts during her time. Her name is Nadia Comăneci. She quickly became one of the most famous and beloved gymnasts of all time – for both good reasons and not so good. She is often credited as making gymnastics a popular sport among young girls around the world. Her story is quite different from your usual rise to fame story, as she had to overcome some pretty straining moments at such a young age.
Made In Romania
On November 12, 1961, a baby girl was born in a small town in the Carpathian Mountains called Onesti, Romania. Her name was Nadia Comăneci. She was born to Gheorge Comăneci, an auto mechanic who was born and raised in Romania. Her mother was Ştefania Comăneci. The family later added a second member to their family, a boy named Adrian. The family was a part of the Romanian Orthodox Church, as were many other families in Romania at the time.
Ştefania claims that because Nadia was difficult to manage as a child and full of energy, she enrolled her daughter in gymnastics from a young age to allow her daughter to release some of her energy.
The Coach Who Took Her To The Next Level
When Nadia was 6-years-old, she was at school doing cartwheels with her friend during recess. That is when the famed Romanian gymnastic coach, Bela Károlyi spotted her. He and his wife were looking for young gymnastics potentials, whom they could train to eventually compete in worldwide events.
Bela immediately spotted something unique in Nadia, and after recess was over, he went looking through the classrooms, in search of the girl he’d seen turning perfect cartwheels. Finally, he found her and offered to train her. The friend that Nadia was doing cartwheels with, was Viorica Dumitru. She went on to become one of Romania’s top ballerinas.
Tough Love
Nadia agreed to start training with Bela and by the time she reached the age of seven, she was already training for 2-3 hours a day with him. She became one of the first students at the school in Onesti and because she lived right in the town, there was no need for her to commute, unlike some of the other gymnasts who came from far.
Bela was certainly impressed with the young girl’s hard work and commitment to the sport, but Nadia recalls that the hard work wasn’t always enough. During her earlier competitions, she would fall off the apparatus a lot, however, unlike other girls whom this may have discouraged, it only pushed Nadia to work harder.