Nadia Comaneci

“Gymnastics is so huge in the Olympics. There are a lot of fans who want to see more.”

“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 Romani...”

“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 c...”

“Maybe that's why I like gymnastics - because I like to fly.”

“Ceausescu thought I had only a few medals, but I have a room full of them in Bucharest, between 150-200 in all. They needed suitcases to haul them out.”

“I was turning actually 15 at the Olympics in '76... I don't think that one year makes a huge difference.”

“I made the cover of 'Sports Illustrated,' 'Newsweek' and 'Time' all in one week, and I didn't even know what that meant.”

“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 gove...”

“Nellie Kim, an Olympic champion from the former Soviet Union, got a 10 right after me in '76, but nobody talks about that.”

“I know my life story sounds too extraordinary to be true.”

“Now, I have a kid, I have businesses to take care of, I have to travel. I have to sit down... and find a little time for me.”

“I used to tell people if they looked at a map, it was right in the middle of the United States. But now everybody knows Oklahoma because of the Thunder and their success. I don't know if I'l...”

“I hoped to win a medal and hoped it would be gold. I knew I was good but didn't know I would be the one to score something that had never been done before.”

“I remember before the Olympics, I was asked, 'What do you think you're going to do in the Olympics?' and I said, 'I'm hoping I'm going to win a medal, and, if possible, it's going to be a go...”

“That's what everybody remembers. They don't remember how many medals I won in my career. They remember the 10s.”

“Two gold medals and two silver, I don't think is that bad... I think I still did a pretty good job.”

“I ended up in the US for a month or so, before moving to Montreal with some Romanian friends.”

“In Montreal, I kept thinking, 'Pay attention: this is the Olympics! It only happens once every four years!'”

“Two days after returning from Montreal, I was training again, and I went on to win two more golds at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.”

“When I went into the Montreal Games, nobody expected much out of me.”