Born in 1961 in Onesti, Moldova, Romania, Nadia Elena Comaneci had been trained as a gymnast since the age of six, when she was accepted into the new Gymnastics High School, where she spent four hours a day in the gym and five in the classroom. At age 8, she competed in the 1970 Romanian National Championships, and in 1971 and 1972 she won all-around titles for her age group. She won first place in her first international competition in 1971 in Yugoslavia.

She arrived at the 1976 Olympics suffering from sciatica, which made strong movements of her legs painful. She was 4'11" tall, barely 86 pounds. She had no hopes of taking home the gold.

Nadia Comaneci perfected the balance beam in both the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. (Allsport)

But then she hit the uneven bars, scoring a perfect 10 -- a world first. She would score six more before the end of the Olympics and became an international media darling in the process.

She left Montreal with seven perfect 10s, three gold medals (uneven bars, balance beam, all-around), one silver medal (team) and one bronze (floor exercise). Four years later in Moscow, she grabbed two gold medals (balance beam and floor exercise) and two silver medals (all-around and team).

Nadia's last major competition was the World University Games in Bucharest in 1981. She retired in 1984, just weeks before the Los Angeles Olympics. Later she became an international judge, and coach to the Romanian national team. In 1989 she defected to the United States via Hungary.