We only had white socks in Romania. But when I used to come back from the States, I used to bring back pink and yellow socks with all kind of designs, and hair clips and elastic bands for the ponytail that had colourful designs. – Nadia Comaneci
In Montreal, I kept thinking, ‘Pay attention: this is the Olympics! It only happens once every four years!’ – Nadia Comaneci
I believe that you should gravitate to people who are doing productive and positive things with their lives. – Nadia Comaneci
The – I don’t want to say older, but the more experienced I get, I treasure and I honor what I’ve done much more. – Nadia Comaneci
Every generation comes with a unique athlete, I don’t think anybody wants to be the next Nadia; they want to be themselves. – Nadia Comaneci
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. – Nadia Comaneci
Of course, most people remember that I received the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics competition. – Nadia Comaneci
People ask me what the definition of perfection, I said it’s none: there is no definition of perfection. – Nadia Comaneci
At 14, you think you compete, you retire and you get a job. I didn’t think gymnastics was a career that was going to change my life. – Nadia Comaneci
When I look back, I am happy that my mum took me to the gymnastics club. I didn’t join gymnastics to become a famous athlete or celebrity; it just happened – I did more than I expected, of course. – Nadia Comaneci
It was good to be a kid because I did not realise all the things that came with the success. Going to the Games, I was asked what I expected to do. – Nadia Comaneci
I’m not a dreamer for, you know, ‘I want to go to the moon someday.’ I accomplished something when I was young, which was much more than I expected to. My results were much bigger than I ever dreamed about it. – Nadia Comaneci
I was turning actually 15 at the Olympics in ’76… I don’t think that one year makes a huge difference. – Nadia Comaneci
I wasn’t allowed to leave Romania. That made me mad. You just want your freedom. You want your space. You want opportunity. – Nadia Comaneci
I didn’t know I wanted to be a gymnast; I was just introduced to the gym. I loved the place because it looked like a hi-tech playground with mats and a lot of things I can hang from. – Nadia Comaneci
Two gold medals and two silver, I don’t think is that bad… I think I still did a pretty good job. – Nadia Comaneci
If I was a boy, nobody would care that I worked out six, seven hours a day when I was 9 years old, no? Why were people always saying ‘poor little girl?’ I liked to work out and always did more than I was asked to. – Nadia Comaneci
I worked hard in gymnastics since the time I was six years old until I retired at 23 years of age. – Nadia Comaneci
When I was 14, I had no pressure. I was a kid, and I didn’t understand all the attention. – Nadia Comaneci
I work out every day, but my idea is to make something short. I work out a maximum half hour. I only do like 20 minutes of cardio, and I do some stretching and some light weights, and I’m out of there. – Nadia Comaneci
