MARRIED BEAU, MOVIE ROLE STAR IN COMANECI`S PLANS
From Chicago Tribune wires. Tribune
sports writer Phil Hersh contributed to
this report.
Published: Wednesday, December 6, 1989
Section: NEWS
Page: 1

Gymnast Nadia Comaneci said Tuesday she hopes to settle down with a married boyfriend who helped her escape from Romania last week and to make a film of her life story.

The star of the 1976 Montreal Olympics, now 28, arrived in Miami on Monday and was whisked away to a hotel by State Department officials.

She spent the night in a Miami hotel with her boyfriend, Constantin Panait, 34, a Romanian exile whose home is in Hallandale, just north of Miami, and who has a wife and four young children.

Comaneci escaped from Romania through Hungary a week ago with six other defectors after a six-hour trek across rough terrain. She told a news conference Tuesday at the City Hall in Hollywood, near Hallandale, that Panait was waiting for her on the Hungarian side of the border.

Confronted by 100 reporters and photographers at the news conference, she at times appeared flustered while struggling to answer questions despite her lack of English fluency.

Comaneci, who was 14 when she made Olympic history with seven perfect-10 scores in the 1976 Games, said she had been approached in New York City about making a film about her life and had agreed.

``I intend to make a movie about my story,`` she said, adding that she plans to star in the film.

She said she met Panait two years ago at a party in Bucharest, the Romanian capital. When asked at the news conference if he had told her he was married, Comaneci replied, ``Yes. So what?``

The couple said they plan to spend Christmas together and settle in south Florida. First, said Panait, 34, a self-employed roofer who has become a U.S. citizen, they planned to visit his wife. ``She has been hurt,`` he said.

Panait and Comaneci posed arm in arm for pictures Tuesday. But they turned coy when asked about their romance.

Will they marry? the press asked.

``I can`t tell you that right now,`` Panait said through a smile. ``I`ll let you know.``

Is this a romance?

Comaneci, 28, blushed through her pink rouge, looked at the floor, stuck out her tongue and said, ``You want to know all my secrets.``

After the news conference, she was whisked away by Hollywood police, eventually winding up at the Diplomat Hotel, where the couple checked into a room, ate dinner and had drinks with friends.

Panait`s home was staked out by a horde of reporters. Panait`s wife, Maria, 25, hasn`t seen or heard from her husband since he returned from Romania.

``We`ll hear what he has to say when he gets home,`` she said when told of what unfolded at the news conference. Panait has been a good husband, she said, ``up until now. I guess I`ll find out soon.``

Neighbors described her as a hard-working, devoted mother of three young girls and a young boy, who mowed the lawn and helped paint the house white with aqua trim.

Mrs. Panait said she signed a $2,000 contract with the Daily Mail on Monday for the rights to her story but is having trouble cashing the check from the London newspaper. She said she was trying to find the reporter who negotiated the deal. She had no luck.

At the Florida news conference, Panait said he was sorry he hurt his wife with his relationship with Comaneci, but said he would support her and their children. When asked what he would tell his wife-or whether he would divorce her-Panait said: ``I can`t tell you that now. I will tell her that I am very happy that I brought Nadia out of Romania.``

Comaneci left behind the three gold medals she won in the 1976 Olympics. She also left behind a large house and a life of luxury and privilege in a country where electricity often is rationed and food supplies are chronically short.

Comaneci said that she hasn`t spoken to her brother or her parents since she left Romania, and that she fears for their safety. Her mother is a close friend of Panait`s mother.

Bela Karolyi, Comaneci`s former coach, said in Houston that Comaneci ``has someone behind her so she won`t experience the horrible period I did when I defected.``

Asked about her clinging to Panait, Karolyi said: ``I went through the same thing, not trusting anybody. You want to hang on to the person who made the whole thing possible for you.

``I appreciate the help he (Panait) gave her, which involved a lot of risk and took a lot of courage. In that way, I have great respect and appreciation for him. I would just like to know who he is, to know he is sincere in wanting to help Nadia.``

One of her other former coaches was worried that Comaneci might be perceived as a home-wrecker before she had a chance to established any other image.

``Now she goes from hero to bitch,`` said Geza Pozsar, who defected with Karolyi in 1981. ``That is not Nadia.``

Now that she`s here, Comaneci is busy assembling a Christmas list. It`s a long one.

``I haven`t finished yet,`` she said.