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Nadia Comaneci’s perfect 10
Comaneci was just 14 years old when she took part in the 1976 Montreal Games and was a favourite. But her achievement in winning the all-round artistic gymnastics
Comaneci was just 14 years old when she took part in the 1976 Montreal Games and was a favourite. But her achievement in winning the all-round artistic gymnastics went further than just gold as her performance created history. Competing in the uneven bars, Comaneci put on a display that judges could not find fault in, prompting them to award her a perfect 10 score. Prior to the Games, official timekeeper Omega asked the IOC if the scoreboard for gymnastics needed to be revised to be able to display four digits (as opposed to the traditional three-digit scoreboards which could display 9.99 as the highest score). IOC responded that a perfect 10 score was near impossible in gymnastics and so stuck with the three-digit scoreboards. Comaneci’s score had to be displayed as 1.00 which confused the spectators at first but then brought on rapturous applause after they realised she had scored 10.00 for the first time in gymnastic history.
