Olympics.com explores the events in Olympic sports history, highlighting Olympians' birthdays and notable sporting events from July 15-21.
Welcome to "This Week in Olympic Sports History," where Olympics.com commemorates the most historically significant sports events of the past. This week, we'll cover July 15-21.
On July 18, 1976, 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci stunned the world at the Olympic Games Montreal 1976 by becoming the first gymnast to score a perfect 10.0. The Romanian prodigy performed flawlessly on the uneven bars, leading the judges to award her an unprecedented score.
The 1.5-meter-tall gymnast executed her routine with impeccable precision and grace. However, the scoreboard at Montreal's Forum wasn't designed to display a perfect 10. Instead, it flashed "1.00," causing initial confusion among spectators and officials. It soon became clear that Nadia had achieved what was once deemed impossible: a perfect score in Olympic gymnastics.
The teenager's perfect score on the uneven bars was just the beginning. Over the course of the 1976 Games, she received a total of seven perfect 10s for events en route to winning three gold medals.
Nadia's triumph in Montreal set a new standard in gymnastics. She continued her success in Moscow 1980, winning two more gold medals and achieving two additional perfect scores. Her Olympic career ended with a total of nine medals, including five gold.
I don't run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run toward it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet
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