Nadia: Book Details Abuse Of Legendary Gymnast And Her Daring Escape From Romania

[rpannier]

BUCHAREST -- When 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored the first perfect 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal, it was so unexpected that the scoreboard malfunctioned.

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But details remained sketchy about her life in communist Romania, the elite world of gymnastics, and her escape to the West.

Nadia And The Securitate, a new book by historian Stejarel Olaru, exposes some of the dark secrets and mind-numbing surveillance that communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu employed to keep tabs on the young gymnast, who was propaganda gold for him and his destitute country.

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Comaneci's escape was planned in mid-November after a chance meeting with Romanian émigré Constantin Panait at a party in Bucharest.

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Years later, she claimed Panait held her captive after she had immigrated to the United States and took money from her.

https://www.rferl.org/a/gymnast-comaneci-abuse-escape/31386922.html

[Carlitos Brigante]

1. K&R nt