Word: comaneci
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ever set itself down on a two-mile runway with more assurance or aplomb. She leaps, twists, spins, and the 18,000 people in Montreal's Forum realize that they are witnessing an exhibition of individual achievement that is truly Olympian. The judges agree. Their verdict on Nadia Comaneci, 14, of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Rumania: she is perfect...
Never before in the modern Olympic Games, which date back to 1896, has the performance of a gymnast been judged perfect. But within five days last week Comaneci earned the 10.00 mark seven times. Yet never before have the Olympics seemed less perfect. Plagued first by the bitter international dispute over the participation of Taiwan, then beset by the withdrawal of African and Arab countries, the Montreal Olympics have seen what could prove to be irreparable damage (see box) to the notion that nations that play together stay together...
...favorite will be Turishcheva's celebrated teammate, Firefly Olga Korbut, 21, who flipped, tumbled, smiled and cried both herself and her sport into the spotlight four years ago as she flitted off with two gold medals of her own. And the romanticist's favorite will be Nadia Comaneci, a 14-year-old, 86-lb. Rumanian sprite who risks fancier flights than Tinker Bell could dream...
...Nadia Comaneci, picked from her kindergarten class in the town of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (pop. 60,000) by her coaches because she was "alive," has advanced the sport of gymnastics as much as Olga popularized it. Frighteningly daring, she has developed a series of ultra-acrobatic moves that leave crowds gasping. The Salto Comaneci, to cite one, is a twisting, back-somersaulting dismount from the uneven parallel bars that one U.S. gymnast has a forthright word for: "Madness." Her derring-do, coupled with unusual stability in such difficult and dangerous moves as three back handsprings...