Olympic great Comaneci returns to Montreal, where her perfect 10 changed gymnastics

MONTREAL — The bright orange suit Nadia Comaneci wore Thursday matched the colour of the Olympic torch outside the Canadian Olympic House in downtown Montreal, while a gold necklace in the shape of the Olympic rings hinted at the reason for her return.

Fifty years after becoming the first gymnast to earn a perfect 10 at an Olympic Games, the Romanian legend returned to the city where, at 14, she delivered the iconic performance.

“It’s always emotional to be back here in Montreal,” said the 64-year-old Comaneci.

“To be able to celebrate 50 years is a long time. We live in a world that has the tendency to forget moments very fast, and to be here to celebrate this amazing 50 years since ’76 is… a once-in-a-lifetime event.”

For Comaneci, Montreal has become inseparable from the achievement that made her a household name around the world.

“It’s gymnastics, Romania and Montreal,” she said. “This is my life. This is what happened in ’76.”

The retired gymnast won five medals in Montreal — three gold, one silver and one bronze — but it was her uneven bars routine on July 18, 1976, that cemented her status as an Olympic legend.

She was the youngest gymnast ever to win gold, a record that appears likely to stand because there has since been a rule change barring athletes from competing before the year in which they turn 16.

When she completed the routine, the scoreboard flashed “1.00” instead of 10.00, leaving athletes and spectators momentarily confused. Comaneci said she assumed the scoreboard had malfunctioned.

“The one didn’t make sense at all,” she said, adding: “I thought there was something wrong because one is not a very good score.”

The explanation came later. Olympic organizers had instructed the Swiss company that built the scoreboard to display scores only up to 9.99 because no one believed a perfect 10 was possible.

“I did not know that I made history because nobody told me anything,” Comaneci said.

She hardly had time to dwell on the confusion before moving to her next event.

“The music started, and we had to march to the balance beam, so I didn’t have time to think about it too much.”

By the end of the Games, Comaneci had earned seven perfect 10s, forever changing expectations in gymnastics. She said the achievement carries a different meaning today than it did when she was a teenager.

“I realize when I think about it, I can’t believe a 14-year-old decided to do something 50 years ago,” she said. “I’m impressed as an adult right now about the courage that that 14-year-old had.”

She has also come to appreciate the broader impact her success had on women in sport.

“When I was young, there were not too many sports for women,” she said. “I always got this comment: ‘Thank you for breaking the ice for women.’ I didn’t know exactly what that meant. Now I’m like, ‘OK, now I understand.’”

“So,” she said with a smile, “I thank the 14-year-old.”

Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith, who competed in rowing at the 1976 Games, said Montreal marked an important turning point not only for Canadian sport, but also for women athletes.

“It definitely played a role in the building block of how we’ve done in Canada in sport,” Smith said, pointing to the country’s steady rise in Olympic success over the decades that followed.

During the Montreal Games, Smith said women accounted for only about 20 per cent of athletes, and 1976 was the first Olympics to include women’s rowing, nearly 80 years after the modern Olympic movement began.

Even then, women raced only half the distance as men because of concerns that longer races could affect their ability to have children, Smith said.

“There’s just a lot more education, a lot more awareness,” she said.

Comaneci will take part in public celebrations outside Montreal’s Olympic Stadium on Aug.1, commemorating the Games that made history and forever linked her name with the city.

She said one of the most meaningful parts of this week’s celebrations will be meeting women whose parents named them Nadia after watching her compete in Montreal.

Half a century later, she said, she is still amazed by how widely her story and her name are remembered. Recalling a recent conversation with a young Montreal driver, she said he immediately recognized her as “the 14-year-old.”

“It’s hard to believe,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2026.

Charlotte Glorieux, The Canadian Press