Women’s gymnastics has had several memorable Olympic champions, many of whom we can name like old friends. Olga Korbut was the first modern gymnast to captivate crowds. She enthralled viewers with her outgoing, charming personality and her daring moves at the Munich Games in ‘72. Her feats—a back flip on the uneven bars, the first flip on the balance beam, and devastating, flexible poses on the beam and floor—all helped push the sport into its current iteration of daredevil complexity.
But it was the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who transformed the sport. The moment the scoreboard flashed a 1.0 (as they were not calibrated to show 10.0 since no one had ever received the mark of perfection), gymnastics became the summer Olympics’ must-see event. The idea that perfection could exist in an sport rife with so many possibilities for error was awe-inspiring.
After Nadia’s first 10 on the uneven bars, she went on to score six more, taking home the All-Around medal, the highest honor in women’s gymnastics, and took home two other golds, in beam, and bars at the Montreal Games. After Nadia, Time and Newsweek put her on their cover, proclaiming, “She’s Perfect,” and “A Star Is Born.” Gymnastics enrollment in the United States skyrocketed. Her coach Bela Karolyi, shot to international fame, and now is one of the coaches for the U.S..
The point? Or rather, the many points? I don’t think Nadia, or the sport, would have be been given that shot of electricity if her score had been 16.4, which is a score that you are more likely to see in these Games, thanks to F.I.G.’s new, unnecessarily complicated, arduous scoring system.
