FIVE YEARS LATER, COMANECI RETURNS TO ROMANIA AMID MIXED REVIEWS
Tuesday, November 22, 1994
Section: Sports
Page: 2D
BYLINE: From News Services
Five years after her dramatic escape from Bucharest,, Romanians have mixed feelings about the return of gymnastics star Nadia Comaneci.
Her fans believe she's still golden. Her critics say she shouldn't bother coming back. Her mother just hoped she would get a friendly welcome when she returned home Monday.
Whether they call her difficult or a diva, what they all remember is the shining talent of the 14-year-old who, at Montreal in 1976, got the first perfect 10 score in Olympic history.
It's a talent that continues to light the way for Romania, which over the weekend won the gold medal at the World Gymanstics Championships.
At Otopeni International Airport, hundreds of fans, policemen and journalists flocked to greet Comaneci and the gold-medal team that flew in from Germany.
"I am very happy to be back, it's a great moment,'' said Comaneci, as crowds clutching flowers pressed to get a view of the former star. She was accompanied by fiance Bart Conner. The couple sped off in a black BMW into the center of town.
Comaneci's hectic 10-day schedule on the fifth anniversary of her escape includes a visit to the gym which made her a star in her home town of Onesti in northeast Romania. A social whirl in the capital includes a meeting with President Ion Iliescu.
But some say Comaneci's golden crown is tarnished by her sometimes turbulent personal life and an alleged lack of commitment to the sport, from retirement in 1982 to the moment she fled the country one month before the collapse of the Communist regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
"I don't know why she is coming back,'' said architect Mircea Lupan, citing her former links with the dictator's son Nicu and what he considered "a failure to raise the level of the sport.''
Her fans, however, are convinced that a new Comaneci, 33, has blossomed in the United States.
"She is a real lady now,'' said George Raetchi, author of a book about Comaneci's life since she went to the United States. [Does anyone know about this? Please email us.] "She isn't the Nadia that didn't smile. She lives in a civilized world.''
That's partly because of her new love, said her mother, Stefania Comaneci, as she eagerly awaited the return of her daughter with Connor, another Olympic gold-medal gymnast.
"I am so glad she has found emotional happiness,'' Mrs. Comaneci said in a telephone interview. "She suffered a lot before. It's great the Americans like her. I just hope she is well received here.''
Corrections:
"...a failure to raise the level of the sport..."
A failure to raise the level of the sport? Nadia failed to raise the level of gymnastics? Ten bucks this guy knows nothing about gymnastics :)