Nadia Comaneci

She got engaged to American gymnast, Baart Conner, a former Olympic gold medalist, in 1994. The two married in 1996 at an Orthodox church in Bucharest, Romania, and hosted a grand reception at the former presidential palace.

The gold-medalist couple gave birth to their only son, Dylan Paul Conner, in 2006, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The two own the ‘International Gymnast’ magazine, television production company ‘Perfect 10 Productions, Inc’, and gymnastics supplies company ‘Grips, Etc.’. Besides, they also run the ‘Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy’.

Nadia Elena Comăneci was born on November 12, 1961, in the small town of Onesti in the Carpathian Mountains, to car mechanic Gheorghe Comăneci and factory worker Stefania-Alexandrina.

Her connection with gymnastics began while she was at kindergarten when she joined a local group Flacara (The Flame) and started training under Duncan and Munteanu.

At six years, she started attending world-renowned Romanian gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi’s experimental gymnastics school.

In 1969, she took part in her first Romanian National Championships and finished at 13th position. The following year, she participated with her hometown team and became the youngest gymnast to win the Romanian Nationals.

Her first international competition came in 1971 where she won her first all-around title, helping her team win gold, in a dual junior meet between Romania and Yugoslavia.

She competed in various junior national contests and dual meets with neighboring countries, like Hungary, Poland and Italy, until she turned 13.

She first took to international fame in the Skein European Championships, in 1975, where she won gold in all events, except floor exercise, in which she won silver.

She excelled at the Romanian National Championships, clinching gold in the all-around, beam, vault and bars categories, held in 1975.

She shot to fame when she scored the first perfect 10 in the history of Olympic Games at 1976 Montreal Games. With seven perfect 10 scores, she displayed a phenomenal act winning three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze.

In 1980, she participated in the Moscow Olympics and performed exemplarily well, bringing home two gold medals – beams and floor exercise, and two silver medals – individual all-around and team competition.