Artistic gymnastic bib belonging to Nadia COMANECI (ROM), Olympic champion, Montreal 1976
Nadia COMANECI took up gymnastics at the age of six, becoming one of the first pupils of the school founded by coach Béla KAROLY. In 1975,aged just 13, COMANECI won every event of the European Championships apart from the floor exercises. A year later, in Montreal, she became the first gymnast in olympic history to obtain the perfect score of 10.0 for her performance on the asymmetric bars. She went on to score 10.0 on six other occasions.
On 5 November 2014, Comaneci, star of the 1976 Games, visited the Olympic Museum to donate her bib. She playfully highlighted the symbolic significance of the number 73: 7 was the number of 10 scores she received in Montreal, and 3 was the number of gold medals she won. And, of course, 7 + 3 = that perfect score of 10!