Everyone today knows Nadia Comaneci as the first female gymnast to earn a perfect score at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada, but that was just one of her many unique accomplishments. Over the course of her gymnastics career she won 16 gold medals and went to the Olympics twice, coming first in 1976 and winning second in 1980. Nadia Comaneci was born in Onesti, Romania on November 12, 1961. When she was six years old, she was playing outside at school, and Bela Karolyi saw her and immediately wanted her as one of his gymnasts. He soon began training at the Onesti Sports Academy, for four hours a day, six days a week, with Sunday as his day off. After training for a year, Nadia Comaneci was ready to compete, at just seven years old. She participated in the Romanian National Junior Gymnastics Championships and took thirteenth place overall. After the competition, Bela Karolyi approached Nadia and gave her a doll, telling her to never come in thirteenth place again. Nadia did just that and the following year, at the age of eight, she once again participated in the Romanian National Junior Gymnastics Championships, placing first. She was the youngest gymnast to win that all-around title. In 1971, she was part of the Romanian gymnastics team and participated in her first international gymnastics competition. At his first competition he ended up winning gold. Nadia Comaneci's first great success occurred when she was only thirteen years old, in 1975, when she almost won the European Championships, winning gold on uneven bars, beam and vault, and silver on floor exercise. She eventually won the overall title at the European Championships, she was also the youngest gymnast to win that title, as well as winning other championships... center of card... Sports Hall of Fame, then in 1993 Nadia was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. In 1989, while Romania was a communist country, Nadia Comaneci defected from Romania in the middle of the night and went to the United States. In 2001 Nadia Comaneci was declared Sportswoman of the Century, an award awarded by World Sports. Nadia and her husband Bart currently own a gymnastics academy in Norman, Oklahoma called Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy. Nadia Comaneci was the first female gymnast everyone knew by name. That's why it is the first treasure of gymnastics. She is still honored and appreciated by Romanian citizens, especially gymnasts. Gymnasts try to take it like her, that's why Romanian gymnastics teams are famous for their beautiful beam work and exercises, why Nadia Comaneci made a statement on the balance beam.