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.
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.
She Knew Early On
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.
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.
Comăneci's Debute
Nadia Comăneci competed in her first official competition in 1969, when she was 7-years-old, at the Romanian National Junior Championship. She finished in 13th place. While the competition didn’t go as well as she had hoped, she wasn’t about to allow her disappointing performance to stop her. The gymnast pushed herself to train harder than ever, and the following year in 1970, she once again competed in the same competition, this time finishing first. She became the youngest gymnast ever to win the Romanian Nationals.
Finally, the country was beginning to notice that this little gymnast had fire in her. In 1971, she participated in her first international competition, a meet between Romania and Yugoslavia, where she won her first all-around title. By the time she was 12-years-old, Nadia was living at a state-run gymnastics school and training with Károlyi for 8 hours a day, 6 days a week... definitely not a schedule for the weak hearted.