Just a young girl born in Romania with a dream to be great. Nadia Comăneci was discovered by accident by a passing stranger when she was in junior school. That accidental meeting in her school yard would turn her life around, and she would become an Olympic sensation, whipping up prestigious awards for pulling off never-seen-before stunts.
But the life of Romania’s sterling Olympic athlete would soon be turned into a living hell; a life without any escape from the controlling communist government of Romania. There was no way they were going to let their golden girl slip out of their hands. The trials and tribulations that Nadia Comăneci would face during her rise to fame and fall to anonymity would define her as the person that the whole world loved, then forgot about and finally loved even more.
Her story tells of the fight for freedom, the terror of feeling a family fall apart, stress and exhaustion caused by the forced need to be perfect, and much more. She had to escape Romania to save her life, and risked her life by doing so. Nadia Comăneci’s story tells something like that of Cinderella’s, only hers is real.
Nadia Comăneci wasn’t just an Olympic gold medalist of the highest order, she served and still serves as a role model for so many people of all ages and backgrounds today. While she also dedicates her time to mentoring youth in the field of gymnastics, she has done so much for the world of Olympics, with a unique focus on the Special Olympics. She now has her husband, an American gold medalist, to make the dreams of so many youths come true through their combined work.
Nadia’s story can make your eyes well up and tear out, but her story can truly put life and its mysterious ways into a perspective that you’ve probably never seen before. You’ll be left with a fuzzy and warm sensation in your heart that will restore your faith in chance and in miracles.
This is the unbelievable story of Nadia Comăneci, a Romanian gymnast who despite facing all the difficulties life threw at her, achieved the greatest feats in the history of The Olympic Games. This is history and this is the present.
A Star Is Born
Nadia Comăneci was born to Gheorghe and Ștefania Comăneci, a Romanian Orthodox couple, on November 12th, 1961 in Onești, Romania. The small city didn’t know yet who had been born into their population.