Well-known Romanian gymnast Nadia Com?neci turned 53 on Wednesday, November 12. She is the winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the first female gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She also won two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Laureus World Sports Academy named Com?neci as one of the Athletes of the Century in 2000. Com?neci successfully defended her European all-around title in 1977, but when questions about the scoring were raised, Ceau?escu ordered the Romanian gymnasts to return home. The team followed orders and controversially walked out of the competition during the event finals.
Com?neci retired from competition in 1981. In November 1989, a few weeks before the Romanian Revolution, she defected with a group of other young Romanians. Her overland journey took her through Hungary, Austria, and finally, to the United States. Ultimately she settled in Montreal where she met ex- US gymnast Bart Conner, whom she married in 1996, in Bucharest. Nadia gave birth to her boy in 2006.