Nadia Comaneci Pleads 'Bring Back Perfect 10,' New Method Confuses Fans [VIDEO]
Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian gymnast who became famous for her perfect 10 score at the 1976 Olympics, expressed her desire to see the old method of gymnastics scoring return. She claims the new scoring method lost a lot of fans to the sport.
"I think gymnastics was associated with a 10. I thought that belonged to the sport and somehow we gave it away," Nadia Comaneci said. "I think we lost a lot of fans."
Gymnast today don't have the option of earning a perfect 10 due to a change in the scoring system 6 years ago. However, Comaneci expressed at the 2012 London Olympics, that the International Gymnastics Federation should consider the old method again.
"I think we lost a lot of the fans because they don't understand what is 14 or what is 15 (under the new scoring system). What's the highest score you can get? It's a little bit confusing for the fans. I think that probably they're going to find a way to bring back the 10 somehow," Comaneci said.
Comaneci was only 14 in 1976 when she earned an unprecedented perfect 10 in the Montreal Olympic games. Her routine on the uneven bars was so precise and well-done that the score board posted a "1.00" because it could not display a 10. No one expected an athlete to reach such a perfect score.
"I didn't understand what that meant," Comaneci, now age 50, said last week.
"That's all they could show. I was a little frustrated at the beginning because I thought I did better than one," she reflected.
Comaneci, who made history with the perfect 10, has earned a total of 9 Olympic medals, including 5 gold and 2 world titles in a 10-year career.
The star gymnast won 4 of her medals (2 gold and 2 silver) in the 1980 Moscow games.
"Nobody talks too much about Moscow," Comaneci said. "It's funny because I get this all the time. 'You went to Moscow but didn't do too well.' And I say 'Two gold medals and two silvers I don't think is that bad.'"
Check out the famous moment of Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 below.