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Now a better picture of who they are emerges. Their stories are intriguing and each has had their share of good and bad press. She was able to keep her "team" from being sent back.I like the simple prose and the format here. While I attributed it to confusion, I hadn't understood how it came about. I love Bela's enthusiasm for the sport and his gymnasts and wonder at the criticism he's encountered. While this is an inspirational book, and is intended to be so, what I get from it is a better understanding of the story of two incredible people, Nadia and her famous coach Bela Karolyi. Her journey accross the borders called on all her endurance and team training. In the US, where the media looks for stories of conflict, it is bound to find criticism of Bela from disappointed young gymnasts.
I have never dug into the gossip or image to what was true and what wasn't. For me, this sets the record straight. While she should have reconnected with Bela, she relied on Constantin who obviously knew his way around the eastern block. His judgement and connections didn't fit the new world any more than his influence on her taste in fashion.While I have read a number of books of defectors, the most recent being Mao's Last Dancer, Nadia's escape has to be the most heroic. I understand what he did now, and appreciate him and his wife even more.I did wonder about Nadia's post defection image.
If you want to be #1, and are willing and able to do the work, he is clearly your "go to" guy. Only the very disciplined can consider taking the mental and physical risks. More than a letter to a specified audience of young gymnasts, Nadia is revealing to all who she is and how she came to be. While a path of defection is easier for the famous, Nadia describes the stress that comes with the decision. Nadia's description of her childhood and how it interfaced with the improbable career of Bela is amazing, a one in a million happening. Interestingly, not long after, the Ceausecu regime fell making visits to and from family possible. I cannot think of one without the other.I only catch Nadia and Bela every four years when I watch the Summer Olympics.
I can imagine her commitment and trust in her "savior" (who may have risked his life too) and having only guarded experiences in her new country, not knowing its language and having no means of support, she had to rely on someone. The training and the love of the sport must have been a protective oasis for the youngsters in this program. I love what Nadia accomplished and wondered at her floozy image after her defection. I did not know that he was Hungarian and not "in" with the powers that were.
This is an amazing book.It is a deeply personal and detailed account of Nadia Comaneci's life by 'Little Miss Perfect' herself and offers a wonderful insight into what 'makes her tick'.I am reading it to my class of 9-11 year old students and they are similarly enjoying it too.I thoroughly recommend this book.
This honesty and frankness also extends to the admission she made in 1980 that Yelena Davydova simply performed better on the day and that her victory was not a result of fixing as Bela Karolyi would like people to believe,she also admits that her first routine on the bars which earned a 10 was not perfect and that throughout the olympics she felt the judges were being too good to her. People were doing half twists but in conjunction with hechts. There were gymnasts performing back saltos as dismounts, Angelika Hellman performed a back tuck dismount from bars in munich, Olga performed a salto back stretched with take off from bar and Nadia chatarova of Bulgaria performed a double back tuck dismount in montreal this last element together with olga korbuts back flip on bars and her dismount were much more difficult than Nadia's comaneci salto and dismount. She rightly pays tribute to Yelena Mukhina who broke her neck and was paralyzed as a result, but says so little about her. She first performed in 1971. We also meet a decent woman who does not want to live off the income of a romanian widow and her son.
Half twists were not exactly a novelty.The Comaneci salto is just simply someone else's somersault performed in different take off position. We are taken on a journey through Nadia's life, we feel we are spectators and are there with her every step of the way, at her baptism ,at the olympics,in the gymn and at her home.The reader ends up by feeling he knows her well. As we embark on this voyage we see she makes mistakes as we all do, she admits she was defensive on a Tv show after defecting to America, that as a consequence of her parents' divorce she overate. The so called comaneci salto had been done before by Karin Janz in munich.
Bar and beam routines in particular were considered elementary but in those years there were innovations, at the 1952 olympics Maria Gorokhovskaya dismounted by standing on high bar and pushing into a back tuck salto , the rachodla salto between bars appeared in 1966 to give only 2 examples but from 1972 onwards routines get riskier. It is true that through out the 1950s and 60s a lot of gymnasts were women. What about olga korbuts flip on bars. She argues that it is not attempted by many because it is difficult ( are not all saltos on bars) and that you cannot be the slightest bit out when you attempt it but you can in other saltos( hard to believe).
Lastly the so called dismount named after her, the only new element Nadia introduced was the half turn. She mentions that she was not sure exactly how the accident occurred, which I find hard to believe because the whole world knows.The only other gymnasts she really has time for are Lyudmilla Tourisheva and Mary Lou Retton, the former was her idol, the other was great. This is never mentioned and Olga was performing this release in 1976 as were at least 20 others, so it is wrong to say Nadia's salto was the first release at montreal. She does not make excuses but gives an honest account.
Annelore Zinke also performed it in 1974.Barbara Myslak (Usa)performed a whip cast flip from high to high bar in 1974 and around the same time Denise Cheshire (Usa) also innovated a snap flip high to high bar these latter 2 examples would suggest that Olga Korbut and not Nadia really inspired gymnasts to higher, more dangerous levels and made salto releases obligatory. I feel she was overrated and certainly overrated herself, for she argues that before 1976 few gymnasts took risks, the comaneci salto was never attempted before by anyone and was the first big release at the 76 olympics. But she does not give much credit to other gymnasts. What about Teodora, Olga Korbut, etc.
Her life wasn't always as glorious as you may think.I'd suggest gymnastics fans read this book because it's simply very good and very well written, and also very, very interesting. It answered many questions gymnastics fans have had through the years.Nadia's story is very impressive, and, at times, even heartbreaking. It's hard to believe that, by reading this book, you'll eventually "feel" for probably the most successful gymnast in the history of the sport. Since I was a gymnast for many, many years, I have read quite a few gymnastics books, but none had impressed me too much until I read this one. Also, if you're simply interested in learning more about how life was like in a communist country, this book may just be the book for you. It is not only a biography, but also historical as well.The book was very clear and easy to read, so younger gymnastics fans should have no problem getting through it. Perhaps it is because Nadia not only talked about her gymnastics, but also about the conditions and struggles of life in Communist Romania. It was also very interesting (something I truly did not expect) and a page turner.
For anyone looking for photos, explore here:nadiacomaneci.com
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