Nadia Comaneci

Her training began early. At age six, she was chosen by coach Béla Károlyi after he spotted her doing cartwheels in a schoolyard. She joined his experimental gymnastics school in Onești, and by age nine she became the youngest gymnast ever to win the Romanian Nationals. She competed as a junior in many international meets, winning her first all-around title in a dual meet against Yugoslavia in 1971. Her first major international success came at the 1975 European Championships in Skien, Norway, where she won gold in the all-around and all events except floor, where she took silver. She continued to dominate in 1975, winning the all-around at the Champions All competition and sweeping the vault, beam, and bars at the Romanian Nationals.

After retiring, Comaneci graduated from Politehnica University of Bucharest with a degree in sports education. She defected from Communist Romania in 1989 and has lived in the United States since then. She married fellow Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner, and their wedding in Bucharest was televised live in Romania. She later worked with Conner in his gymnastics school. Her legacy is immense; she was called the most iconic gymnast of the 20th century by El País and was named one of the Athletes of the 20th century by the Laureus World Sports Academy. She has a brown hair and brown eyes. Her measurements are 33–24–35, and her bra cup size is 34B. Her Instagram following has grown to 288k.