A Dazzling Show by Comaneci

December 5, 1979

Associated Press
 

FORT WORTH, Dec. 5 (AP) -Rumania's Nadia Comaneci, no longer the pony-tailed sprite who captured the hearts of millions at the 1976 Olympics, coasted through four women's compulsory events today in the 20th World Gymnastics cham-pionships.

The 18-year-old Miss Comaneci, her hair cropped short and nervously biting her fingernails, scored a near perfect 9.95 points on the uneven bars, followed with a 9.90 on the balance beam, scored a 9.80 in her floor exercise and nailed down a 9.85 with a dazzling final vault that brought a short, quick smile.

Miss Comaneci, who became the first person to score a perfect 10 in the Olympics, faltered somewhat on her floor exercise as she quickly corrected a slight misstep.

She posted a total of 39.500 points.

Miss Comaneci, who became familiar to millions of Americans who saw her on television in the Olympics at Montreal, was greeted warmly by the crowd of 3,500 in her first United States appearance.  This is the first time the World Gymnas-tics championships have been held outside Europe.

Miss Comaneci, a winner of three Olympic gold medals, was a big favorite to earn her first world all-around title because the defending champion, Yelena Mukhina of the Soviet Union, was out of this meet with a pulled tendon in her right leg.

A Rumanian teammate, Emilia Eberle, was not far behind Miss Comaneci, with a total of 38.950 points.  The 15-year-old Miss Eberle was particularly impressive in the un-even bars and the floor exercise in which she scored two 9.850's.

The scores of the compulsory competition count one-half toward the all-round title, which will be decided with optional exercises in four events Thursday night.

The American women were off to a stumbling start with the best perforrnance coming from Leslie Pyfer, who scored 38.85 points.  Her best effort was a 9.85 on the floor exercise.

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