Nadia Elena Comaneci was born on 12 November 1961, in Onesti, Romania, and was an Olympic gymnastic gold medalist, best known for being the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 in the Olympic Games, at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal at the age of 14. However, all of her efforts have helped put her net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Nadia Comaneci? As of mid-2017, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $10 million, mostly earned through a successful career in gymnastics. She won a total of nine Olympic medals including five gold, and also has four World Championship medals, so all of these helped ensure the position of her wealth.
Nadia Comaneci Net Worth $10 million
At a young age, Nadia’s mother enrolled her into gymnastics since she was full of energy. Later on, she would attend the Politechnica University of Bucharest, completing a degree in Sports Education.
Her gymnastics career began when she started studying with the local team called Flacara when she was in kindergarten. She was then selected for Bela Karolyi’s experimental gymnastics school, in 1968, becoming one of his first students. Two years later, she started competing as part of their hometown team, and became the youngest gymnast to ever win the Romanian Nationals. The following year, she entered her first international competition, helping her team win gold. Over the next few years, she continued in many competitions, and won the all-around gold at the Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba). At the age of 13, she had her first international success, nearly sweeping the entire 1975 European Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships, in which she won gold medals in every event except the floor exercise.
In 1976, Comaneci joined the inaugural American Cup in which she received a rare scores of 10, completing routines without any deductions. She made history later in the 1976 Summer Olympics, when she was awarded the first perfect 10 in gymnastics thanks to her routine on the uneven bars. She would then earn six additional 10s and would win a gold medal for the individual all-around as well as the balance beam, becoming the first Romanian gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title, and the youngest Olympic gymnastics all-around champion. It’s no longer possible to break this record, as the qualifications for the Olympic Games have changed re- age. In 1977, Nadia successfully defended her European all-around title, however, her performance dropped after she was separated from her longtime coaches the Karolyi. She returned to him after a poor performance, and would then win her third consecutive all-around title. She was then selected for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, in which she would go on to win two gold medals and two silver medals.
In 1981, she made an official tour of the United States called “Nadia ‘81”, and still went to the 1984 Summer Olympics even after her coaches had defected; however, she did not compete but only watched. This led her to officially retire from the sport due to the government preventing her from leaving Romania. However, in 1989, she defected with a group of other Romanians, overland across Europe. Later on, after perestroika, Nadia would become a leader in the world of gymnastics and served as the honorary president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation. She’s still involved with the Olympic Games, and even provided television commentary for several events.
For her personal life, it is known that Nadia married Bart Conner in 1996, and they have a son.. Comaneci also does a lot of charity work, and helped fund the construction of the Nadia Comaneci Children’s Clinic. She’s also involved with The Special Olympics.
Olympic Order, BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, Milliyet Sports Award for World Athlete of the Year, Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year
TV Shows
The Apprentice
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Trademark
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First Olympic Opponent, With A Perfect 10!
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Quote
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One of the most difficult times in my life was when I escaped from Romania in November of 1989.
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I don't run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run toward it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet.
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Do not pray for an easy life, pray to be a strong person.
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Fact
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Became a naturalized citizen of the United States on 6-29-2001.
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Son Dylan Paul Conner was born on 6-3-2006. The father is Nadia's husband and fellow gymnast Bart Conner.
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Was married to American gymnast Bart Conner in Bucharest, Romania on 4-27-1996.
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Norman, Oklahoma, USA. [July 2008]
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Gave birth to a son, Dylan Paul (born June 3, 2006 in Oklahoma City).
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She is the Vice-Chair of the International Olympics Committee, Honorary President of the Romanian Olympic Committee, Honorary President of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Vice President of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Founding Member of the Laureus Sports Academy, Member of the International Gymnastics Federation Foundation and many more international charity organizations. She is active in promoting gymnastics and sports and actively working for charity works around the globe. Nadia Comaneci is now working in building an orphanage and a clinic for the Romanian homeless children, the Nadia Comaneci Children's Clinic.
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In 2000 she became the first athlete to speak at the United Nations to officially launch the International Year of Volunteers.
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She is the only person to have received the International Olympics Committee highest honor the Olympic Order twice (1984 and 2004) and the youngest recipient on record.
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In 1999 she received the "World Sports Awards of the Century" in the category of the Women's Award in Athletics and General Sports.
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1999 she was among the list of the 25 outstanding sports people of the 20th century compiled by the International Association of Sports Writers.
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She is the only person to have appeared at the same time on the cover of the Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated magazines.
Won the all-around & team competition at the 1972 Romanian Junior National Championships.
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Resides in Norman, Oklahoma, USA.
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In 1989 she moved to the United States of America.
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1979 European Championships: All-around gold.
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During the '77 Europeans, after protests, Nelli Kim of the USSR is awarded the vault gold over Nadia. The Romanian team leaves in protest & is disqualified from the individual competition. Nadia had to return her gold on bars.
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1977 European Championships: All-around & bars gold, vault silver.
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Scored 2 perfect 10s on floor & vault at the 1976 American Cup.
Fled to Hungary, then to the American Embassy in Vienna in November 1989.
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Was trained by the legendary Romanian coach Bela Karolyi & his wife Marta, who also coached Mary Lou Retton, Julianne McNamara, Phoebe Mills, Kim Zmeskal, Betty Okino, & Dominique Moceanu.
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Scored 2 perfect 10s on the balance beam and uneven bars at the 1980 Olympics.
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She was named after Nadezhda (meaning "hope"), a heroine of a Russian film.
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She graduated from the Physical Education and Sports in Bucharest, in 1984.
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Retired in 1984 at the age of 22.
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Her parents are Gheorghe and Stefania-Alexandrina Comãneci.
She remains today the most well-known gymnast in gymnastic history.
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She was the first person in Olympic history to score a perfect 10. She received the first perfect 10 for her performance on the uneven bars, where the computerized scoreboard could not register her perfect 10 and was only able to show 1.00 point.