Imagine a cricket team scoring a six of every ball of the innings. Or someone cracking UPSC with full marks. That’s the scale of perfection Nadia Comăneci achieved at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Not once, but seven times
Competing in the artistic gymnastics event, Comaneci not only became the first gymnast to score an unprecedented “perfect 10”, but went on to repeat it six times over the next five days.
Why it was nearly impossible
Under the scoring system used back then, points were deducted for every little mistake — from a slight wobble during landing to something as minuscule as legs not being straight — making Comaneci’s feat stupendous.
But Comăneci’s routine on the uneven bars of the team event was flawless. Her feat was historic. What made it even more iconic was that she did it aged 14.
Scoreboard shock
Perhaps, nothing describes the gravity of her achievement better than the fact that the scoreboard at Montreal wasn’t even equipped to show a perfect score. Hence, instead of “10.00”, it flashed “1.00”, initially leaving the spectators confused.
But Comăneci was too focused on her performance to even be bothered by it. “I didn’t understand it but I was like, whatever it is, it’s something wrong so I am just going to concentrate on my next event,” she said while recalling the incident.
More than a moment
The fact that she scored six more perfect 10s in different events proved that the first wasn’t a fluke. Comaneci finished with five Olympics medals at Montreal — three of which were gold.
She went on to win four more medals and achieved two more perfect 10s at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. But the legacy that she carved in Montreal is what immortalized her.
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