Nadia Comaneci: gymnast of perfection and defector

[Music] she grabbed the world's attention and affection age 14 in 1976 this Romanian gymnast scored the first Perfect 10 in Olympic history and is still a sporting Legend but her life in Romania was troubled and she was once again headline news as she chose to defect to the US risking her life to escape the brutal regime of Nicola chesu n kich many thanks for being with us on the global conversation you're at the Pinnacle of your career in 76 but still your Fame endures why do you think you're such an intriguing character um I'm not sure I think uh it's because I didn't disappear I uh competed in Olympics in 1976 and 1980 then I was still involved in gymnastics because I did some gymnastics six shows uh over the years uh then I retired actually from competition and shows but uh I'm still a part of gymnastics would you say it's what was more influential in forming who you are now was it the gymnastics or the period of history that your life has been inscribed in in terms of the Communist era and the fall of Communism what's been more influential in making you I think everything together uh of course it started with the Olympics because uh people didn't know who is Nadia and what is Romania on the map anyway and uh there was a big interest about me after that uh because I was 14 and a half and um uh people wanted to know more about me why is she so good then I was still around people found you know the the revolution happened in 1989 and uh I barely left uh the country uh just a little before the Revolution not knowing that this will happen but we're commemorating those revolutions now do they strike a particular cord with you it's a part of the history you know I uh I don't think about uh that every day uh uh it's been a lot of years past uh since then it doesn't feel that uh it's been that long because uh I go back to Romania six times a year I do a lot of projects there so did you feel more Romanian or more American uh no I I'm a Romanian definitely and I'm adopted by uh by the states we asked our n audience to send in questions and obviously many are fascinated by your career um received this question from Dinara ratova who says don't you think that the cold war between the west and the commun Communist block had its share in your success do you feel part of that tension I didn't feel any tension when I was competing because I was a kid uh the only thing I felt was uh oh I hope I'm going to do a good routine here because I know I prepare my uh uh everything I've done in a gym uh I don't think you feel that when you were a kid uh maybe when you grow up and you become an adult you look back and you see that but uh I was seeing as a challenge well that's interesting because your your trainer Bella Caroli and Mar his wife have been criticized in the past for um having two tough training regimes did you feel that no I didn't feel that I actually did a lot more than they were asking me to do and I think about uh you know when Bella used to say today we do five routines on beam and I used to do seven uh so I could do more than he was asking to uh I I don't mind working hard I don't complain that I work hard um I think that uh you have to work hard to get to that level um I uh I think that uh I'm not looking for the easy way to do things and I'm proud about that you became such a famous figure in Romania and worldwide did you feel that pressure no I didn't feel at all because Romania was uh you know was closed there were you know if people were interested to come and uh um find out more about me they couldn't easily come uh in a country to do that so you know I was uh after I competed in the games uh I we celebrated for two days and then we went back to the gym so I didn't have I I had no knowledge about what was happening outside so you had no you weren't aware the massive worldwide impact you'd made in 1976 no not really not then but I realized later do you regret not knowing that or did it help you no I don't I don't regret anything but when you scored the seven perfect tens we all know the the story well it's almost mythical that the balls can actually show a 10 what did you think when you looked at them I always say about the fact that I don't watch the scoreboard because I feel um how I did the routine I thought I did a pretty good routine um the routine was um I say I had a little extra Nadia touch because I did everything with a little more amplitude even though it was the same routine uh than everybody was doing but I think the person before me got a 9.95 and because mine was a little more amplitude than everything I've done I guess there was no place to go but the 10 so as I said I online audience sent us a lot of questions and weed this question from Jer bosku who wants to know the secret of your motivation because you a driven person then you're obviously a very driven person now uh the the secret do you have a secret of your motivation no but I'm not I'm not an Olympic gymnast so I I think I had the motivation because I when I when I was five and a half even before I studied gymnastics I was in kindergarten and I uh there was a tricycle competition and I just want to win that so I won that so I had that going but uh I think the hard work and the hours in the gym uh pile into to to the success um I think when I look back that um Sports is amazing any any sport is amazing for kids why because it gives you a structure and organize you and uh uh gives you um uh the sense of setting goals were you ever approached and encouraged to take any sort of per kind of performance enhancing drug I didn't know anything about that uh no I've heard about that in different sports much later in my life uh I in gymnastics is you know it's a delicacy sport you don't have to carry the beam on your back your Fame obviously especially after 76 brought you to the attention of the chesus the dictators the dictator who was reigning in your country how did that make you feel were you aware of what was going on in Romania at that time no not really um I uh you know I I retired in uh officially in 1984 and I was still involved in gymnastics uh I did coaching I uh work in the Federation for a couple of years I wasn't aware about what was going on but I guess you were you were a treasure representing a troubled country a treasure to a dictator if you didn't realize it at the time does it make you feel uncomfortable now um I I don't know if I was a treasure I was somebody who was very well known because of my um sport accomplishments um I you know when you live in a country that's a communist country you try to uh to make your life the best you can uh I thought that maybe uh um it wasn't quite right to not be able to travel outside of uh Romania because I was invited I was a um in the athletes Commission of the ioc for a couple of years and I was invited to go to meetings and other events that they had and uh I wasn't allowed um I had no one to ask because I didn't know who to ask why am I not allowed and then I thought in time I will probably like to leave like your trainer Bella Carol and his wife did back in 1981 they defected uh when you on a tour of the US how how did that make you feel when when he left because he invited you to to go with him did he not um I was very sad when he decided not to go back um but um I found out about that right in the last day and uh I just I couldn't imagine doing that I wasn't ready to do anything like that because I couldn't see myself uh anywhere else but Romania and with my family uh he was we he was outside of the states and then he was you know easy to make a decision you just stay there um I think that after that uh my situation of going out of the country became very difficult and within the country itself did you feel a sense of Freedom within Romania or were you surveyed um there were some rumors that a lot of people are uh watched um I think I probably was I mean this is what it is and if if it is how it is uh I'm just going to live with it people imagine that after your Olympic success being a figurehead of your country you'd have lived in the lap of luxury was that the case no that wasn't the case no uh no I didn't have a I mean I had a house but uh I had to pay uh all the way until I was turning 60 to be make my payments uh I didn't make public my uh fortune or not Fortune uh I didn't think uh money matter because I did gymnastics because I wanted to do it and so then you years later in ' 89 you made fundamental decision which was to defect what were the circumstances that led to that I made a very bold decision uh at that time because I knew there was very dangerous and scary uh but you know like in gymnastics I like to try new skills I wanted to do something you know if I don't do it nobody else is going to do that for me the Winds of Change were sweeping across Eastern block countries the Berlin Wall was probably falling at about that time were you getting that information were you aware that there was change taking place not too much no and so then when you defected you risked your life your trainer's defection have been obviously a lot easier as you said yeah a little bit easier how long did it take for you to leave Romania and what were you feeling as you were crossing the border leaving Romania into Hungary um everything happened uh pretty fast actually because the entire thing took about two days toor uh you just go you just go and uh you have somebody there's a guide that tells you I think you should go there you should go here uh I think people were aware uh that I was I left but nobody knew what I was actually I I contacted the the US Embassy in um uh Vienna I think see it's been a long time uh and they help me go to the states uh it happened very fast and uh after that um the revolution happened in Romania you know very shortly after that you you you don't seem at all traumatized by The Experience although it must have been terrifying because you're you really have put your life at risk uh I'm not traumatized now no I think back and I'm uh happy that uh it had a happy ending uh but I'm the kind of person who makes the decision I I don't doubt it first of all and I just go all the way uh hoping that uh it's going to be good so when the chesu regime Fells you said you were in the states can you remember where you were how you heard about it um I think I heard it uh I was with uh I was doing I Was preparing some uh gymnastic shows I think at the time and uh we were watching uh worry about what was happening uh because I was thinking about my family and all my friends and uh it was a big big big move for the country were you able to contact your family at the time no no I I didn't contact my family uh for about a month or two and how did you feel personally about this regime falling about the chesus did it fill you with joy or confusion uh I didn't know how to feel about it uh I was thinking that uh you know this is what people want this is that what the country wants I hope it's going to be good uh to the end of time and uh I think everybody wanted freedom I guess uh like me so I'd like to bring in again some of the voices we've received some of our online community and we received this question from Maro yanelli who says when you passed from Romania to the US and they put it you came practically from oppression to freedom and this is a difficult question but how did your existence change how how did you deal with that I think that the the the good people around you that want the best for you is the most important thing and I was lucky to have that and uh uh the fact that I was able to go back to Romania because Romania was a free country was also very fulfill fulfilling for me i' been to the states and I've been outside of Romania when I was competing so there wasn't something shocking new for me uh I kind of I knew the the the the Free World how it was working working I just had to figure out what I want to do where I can help we received this question from Adrian rousu who says going back through your career and the move to the US what is the one major thing you'd have done differently when I look back at everything that happened in my life it I don't think that will be one thing that I would have done differently because every little thing that I've done connected the DOT to what I I am today it's absolutely true because there is a photo of you it's incredible in 1976 with your now husband kissing you on the cheek in Madison Square Gardens your life almost seems to have a fairy tale quality to it is that something you think do you feel you've had a Charmed existence fairy tale yeah you know when you think it is a fairy tale but it's like I don't want my life to be scripted as a because it becomes too cheesy it's a fairy tale story uh I think that um what I brought to uh my generation and the generation after me is that um that motivation that uh you started with that uh you should never give up uh when uh it gets harder you're always on the road now you support a lot of Charities as I was saying you feel a need to give back what is it in you that feels that you have to give back to such a degree I see how difficult it is for a lot of kid kids to to be able to pursue what they want to do and I think that's the part where I can help uh it's either through my foundation in Romania uh it's either through Special Olympics that I was um uh open to by my husband when I arrived to the states or to muscular distrophy Association and uh I learned a lot from that and now that brings me to a question from Elizabeth Booth who asked very precisely do you ever envisage being involved in the training of the Romanian national team yeah I go all the time back to Romania and I am in contact with the the girls I send them texts uh all the time you know when they competed at the world gymnastic Championship I try to encourage them and say come on you you'll be good just think of your best routine so I I cannot not be connected M because uh that's my family and your son you've opened obviously a very beautiful chapter in your life you have a young child and I'd like to end with this question from Anda georgu who says what does your son feel about the great achievements in gymnastics and this isn't only you it's also your husband B Conor who's also an Olympian you know I'll tell you something very funny because my uh uh little one who's 8 and a half now um when he was going to kindergarten when he was 4 and a half um I we didn't tell him anything about us we said you know uh when the time comes and he's going to ask we just going to say what we've done and uh he comes back back from kinder School uh kindergarten and says mom dad do you know you're famous I said uh yes so that was his uh uh own uh thinking uh and then uh I found the an album of some pictures with me from the Olympics in 76 so I tried to you know show him and I said do you know who there is so I'm 14 there and he said it's you so he knew and I said how do you know and he said I just know n kich many thanks thank you [Music] w

Channel: Global Conversation

Views: 338,411

Keywords: euronews, globalconversation, Romania, Olympic Games, Sport, Athletics, Romania politics

Id: 1WMYHSMwwLk

Length: 18min 33sec (1113 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 10 2014