nadia comaneci was 14 when she scored an unprecedented 10 in gymnastics at 1976 olympic games four decades later she says she found the 1980 games much toughernadia comaneci scripted one of the greatest moments in sports history with her perfect 10 the first ever by a woman in an olympic gymnastics competition for her routine on the uneven bars at the 1976 montreal olympics the gymnast competing for romania was just 14 then and became an international star overnight she won three gold medals in montreal captivating fans with her girlish charm and virtuoso performances helping her sport gain prominence along the way she followed that pathbreaking show with two more gold medal in the 1980 games in moscow before retiring from gymnastics in 1981 at just 21 with romania facing civic and political uncertainty in those days comaneci defected to united states in 1989 she married former us gymnast bart conner in 1996 the couple runs a gymnastics academy in norman oklahomacomaneci who remains a role model for gymnasts across the world is a member of the laureus world sports awards academy elegant and lissome at 54 comaneci spoke to a select group of journalists on the sidelines of the 17th laureus awards ceremony held in berlin last mondayexcerptswhats the main image of the 1976 games you have in mind todayprobably the uneven bar the dismount and the floor exercise i can still feel the noise when i was walking in the arena the noise you dont want to hear when you are on the balance beam i can sense that even now i clearly remember those momentshow was competing in 1980 games different i from 1976 from a sporting perspectivein 1976 nobody knew who i was after the games everyone wanted to know who was i and where i was coming from in moscow 1980 i was competing as the olympic champion and they russia were the toughest team to beat its hard to be an olympic champion but its harder to defend the titleyou were only 14 when you became a big star in 1976 how did you cope with the pressureactually it was easy being young because you dont understand at 14 what you understand at 20 i had more pressure when i competed in moscow i had no pressure in montreal because i only went to do my routines and hoping i didnt mess it up when i was on the bar when i came back 10000 people were at the airport and i thought why because in my mind i hadnt done anything different from what i used to do in my gym people think you have pressure when you are young its the other way round actuallywhen you look back at 1976 and then at your work with kids as a laureus academy member what does it mean to youi now appreciate more what had happened many years ago i didnt know then as a child that i was making history that