Nadia Comaneci: Seven Perfect 10s
[ 2006-09-06 15:33 ]
1976年7月18日之前，沒有運動員在奧運會體操項目中獲得過滿分。但這一天，14歲的羅馬尼亞女子體操運動員納迪亞·科馬內奇用自己完美的表現征服了場上的所有裁判，贏得了10分的滿分。但這還遠遠沒有結束，高低杠、平衡木以及個人全能比賽中，她連獲了7個滿分。在世界體育界引起了轟動，成為國際體操史上令人難以置信的奇跡。
 Before 1976, no male or female had ever received a perfect score
in any Olympic gymnastics event. And then came Nadia Comaneci, all 4-foot-11, 86
pounds of her.
The 14-year-old Romanian dazzled the judges in Montreal to the point where
they couldn't help but give her a perfect 10. And they didn't stop there, for
not only did Comaneci receive the first perfect score, she then proceeded to get
six more!
The media needed someone to step up and become the darling of the Montreal
Olympics, much like Olga Korbut had four years earlier with three golds in
Munich. Korbut was back in 1976 but was really only the third-best gymnast on
the powerful Soviet squad behind teammates Nelli Kim and Ludmila Turishcheva.
Comaneci was supposed to contend with the Russian juggernaut but no one,
including coach Bela Karolyi (who later coached Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and the
Kerri Strug-led American women's team in 1996) could have imagined what was to
come.
There are a total of six events in women's gymnastics, five individual
(balance beam, floor, uneven bars, vault and the all-around) and one all-around
team event. Comaneci took home a total of five medals - three golds, one silver,
and one bronze.
Four of her seven perfect scores, including the first one, came on the uneven
bars, which as you might imagine, was one of the three events Comaneci struck
gold. But it was on the balance beam that she truly showed off her skill. The
beam is considered one of the most difficult Olympic events, with gymnasts
performing pirouettes and backflips on a beam measuring just four inches across.
All Nadia did was record three more perfect scores and her second gold
medal.
The final gold came in the all-around competition, with the Soviet juggernaut
chomping at her heels. In the end, the Russians wouldn't be denied as Kim won
the vault and the floor exercises (with two perfect scores of her own) and then
led her squad to the all-around team gold medal. The Romanians grabbed the
all-around team silver medal and Nadia won the bronze in the floor competition.
Comaneci actually won two more gold medals in 1980 in Moscow, but did not
receive nearly as much fanfare due to the United States' boycott of the games.
But it's the 1976 games when she captured the hearts of the world and became the
first gymnast in history to know what it's like to be
perfect.
（英語點津王星編輯）
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