Nadia Comaneci on Simone Biles: "She’s this generation’s modern idol."

At the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci was so far ahead of the sport the three-digit scoreboards, famously, couldn’t keep up.

When the then-14-year-old earned the sport’s first perfect score in Olympic competition, onlookers in the Montreal Forum saw the displays flash 1.00 not 10.0.

47 years later, Simone Biles finds herself pushing the sport just as Comaneci did before her, as the rule book has added an astounding five elements named in her honour over the past decade.

“I say that almost every half of a century somebody comes [and changes the sport],” Comaneci told Olympics.com in Antwerp as she took in competition at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. “She’s this generation’s modern idol right now.”

After sitting out of competition for nearly two years following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Biles returned competitive gymnastics earlier this year in August. 

In Antwerp, she’s already made history twice: in the qualifying round, she successfully competed her daring Yurchenko double-pike vault (now the Biles II and her fifth named element) and Wednesday evening (4 October) won her 33rd World and Olympic medal, tying her for most ever with Vitaly Scherbo.

“It’s very unique in our sport to go away for two years and come back with almost the most difficulty that anybody can think about,” marveled Comaneci. “I think when you talk about gymnastics right now, everybody talks about Simone and I think this is great for the sport.”

"That was their gold, bronze and silver medal."

Comaneci was also on hand to see the Romanian squad she helped put on the map secure its five-woman team quota spot for Paris 2024. The team had not advanced to the Games since London 2012.

“I’m so glad I was here and I was hoping this is going to be a good Worlds for them,” she said. “[Qualifying] was their gold, bronze and silver medal. I’m just really, really happy for them because they competed with confidence.”

The five-time Olympic champion surprised squad after competition, relishing the chance to congratulate them.

“I don’t think they expected me to be down there with the media,” said Comaneci. “Some of them were crying, they were happy… We did some photos with them, many, many photos. I’m really, really happy.”