I don’t think many people consider in their heart that they have two places that are home. – Nadia Comaneci
We developed a system in Romania that was very successfully continued for a number of years, but I don’t know if it was because of some conflict in the organisation or whether there was government interference… but somehow, they have forgotten the importance of raising gymnasts to be ready for every Olympics. – Nadia Comaneci
I have had a few turning points, the first day I entered a gymnastics school at age 6. – Nadia Comaneci
Two days after returning from Montreal, I was training again, and I went on to win two more golds at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. – Nadia Comaneci
We are not coaching on a daily basis because we often travel with our charity and commercial interests. – Nadia Comaneci
My mother never watched me train in Romania. She wasn’t allowed, it just wasn’t done back then. My training was paid for by the government. My parents were not at the Olympics with me, either. I never expected them to be. – Nadia Comaneci
I didn’t realize that winning the Olympics at age 14 automatically put me in the category of being a celebrity. – Nadia Comaneci
That’s what everybody remembers. They don’t remember how many medals I won in my career. They remember the 10s. – Nadia Comaneci
See, when I went to the Olympics in ’76, the gymnastics people knew that I was good, but everybody else, after I won, everybody was like, ‘Where’s she coming from? Who is she? What is Romania?’ – Nadia Comaneci
At some particular time, when I was 14 years old, I’ve done something that people didn’t expect. – Nadia Comaneci
People think you have pressure when you are young. It’s the other way round, actually. – Nadia Comaneci
People assume a lot of things about gymnasts – that the girls work too hard, it’s way too much for them, they are too young to work so hard. – Nadia Comaneci
I thought celebrity meant Hollywood, that’s it. I began to see that does include Olympians. People have so much respect for Olympians. – Nadia Comaneci
Of course I used to smile and laugh in 1976, but not when I was competing. Please show me somebody who laughs when they are concentrating; I always smiled. – Nadia Comaneci
I couldn’t do everything in the first or second day; it took me years to be able to get to the achievement that I’ve had. I wasn’t perfect from the beginning. – Nadia Comaneci
Yes, gymnasts aim for perfection, but I never thought about the score. If that’s what’s in your mind, it will probably mess you up. – Nadia Comaneci
I think that when you are on a four-inch balance beam, you don’t care about laughing or smiling or waving to the crowd because you’re going to be down in a second. – Nadia Comaneci
One of the most difficult times in my life was when I escaped from Romania in November of 1989. – Nadia Comaneci